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name _ 

address 


People’s  Computer  Company 

P.  0.  Box  310 

Menlo  Park,  Ca  94025 


zip 

what  kind  of  computer  do  you  use?. 

Jj*  subscriptions  start  with  1st  issue  of  school  year 


$4  for  5  issues 

($5  Canada  &  overseas) 


Bulk  Rate 
U.S.  Postage 

PAID 

Menlo  Park,  CA. 
Permit  No.  371 


TO 


people’s  computer  company 


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0PEN  ABUSE 


Curious  about  PCC?  Come  any  Thursday  nite  -  it’s  FREE! 


Slo, 


ffv, 


*V?»p» 


Or 


°t^eot/ry 

7°OrJ  ^  6r- 

OQW 


We  are  located  at 

1921  Menalto  Ave. 

Menlo  Park  94025 

and  our  phone  is:  41 5-323-61 1 7 


flap  t up/ 


Liberate  Some  PEOPLE  From  skool! 


Take  them  on  a  field  trip  to  PCC 
by  skoolbus,  carpool  or  bike  brigade. 

We  can  take  up  to  1 2  at  a  time  for 
1  to  2  hours. 


FREE 


Info?  Call  (415)  323-611' 


/in\ 
/housex 

COURSES 


Computer  Time 


Rent  computer  time  when  the  urge  strikes; 
Rates:  $2. 00/hr 

$1 .00/hr  (students) 

We  are  amenable  to  swapping 
for  the  time.  No  reasonable 
offer  refused ! 


Do-it-yourself-hands-on-courses.  Sign  up  for  a  "course' 
Play  computer  games  or  learn  BASIC  or  both  or  ??? 

6  times  ...  2  hours  each  time  . .  .  $20 
Arrange  your  own  schedule.  Here  are  the  possibilities: 

Tuesday  10-12,1-4 
Wednesday  10-12,1-5 
Thursday  10-12,1-5 

Come  once  a  week  for  6  weeks  or  twice  a  week  for  3 
weeks  or  whatever  schedule  you  like. 


math  games  & 
computer  critters 


Games  to  learn  math  by  (and  have 
fun  with)  --  from  first  grade  up. 

NUMBER,  TRAP,  STARS,  BAGELS, 
BEYOND  BAGELS,  TAXMAN, 
HURKLE,  MUGWUMP,  SNARK, 
REVERSE,  SUPER  LUNAR, 

QUBIC,  CAVES,  WUMPUS,  STAR 
TREK,  .  .  .,  and  on  and  on  and  .  . 

(Invent  a  game  -  it's  easy!) 


Match  wits  with  someone 
person,  a  computer. 


yourself,  another 


Teach  someone  to  program  using  INCHWORM, 
LADYBUG,  GERMLAND,  and  other  COMPUTER 
CRITTERS.  Especially  designed  to  show  how  the 
concepts  of  computer  programming  can  be  taught 
to  very  young  children.  Best  of  all,  you  don't  even 
need  a  computer!  COMPUTER  CRITTERS  can  be 
used  in  any  classroom.  We  will,  however,  have  a 
computer  available  so  you  can  see  the  CRITTERS 
in  action  on  a  real  computer. 


t&e  'Dav-e 


SO  YOU  WANT  TO  WRITE  YOUR  OWN  PROGRAMS  .  .  . 

We  are  offering  two  classes  to  people  who  want  to  learn  how 
to  program  a  computer: 

BASIC  4  Beginners  is  a  hands-on  class  about  BASIC, 
our  favorite  programming  language .  All  our  games  are 
written  in  BASIC.  The  course  will  last  8  weeks,  two 
hours  of  hands-on  class  time  every  Tuesday  (4-6  PM 
or  7:30  -  9:30  PM)  plus  10  hours  of  free  computer 
time.  Cost  is  . 


Saturday,  November  17,  11  AM  -  6  PM 
or  Saturday,  December  1,  1 1  AM  -  6  PM 


Price:  $12  each  session  for  you,  or 

$10  if  you  bring  a  friend  (grades  1-12) 

The  friend  is  free  -  1  friend  per  student 


BASIC  4  Old-Timers  is  a  tiew  class  and  will  cover  ad¬ 
vanced  topics  in  BASIC.  At  the  same  time,  we  will  be 
writing  programs  and  games,  focusing  on  useful  tech¬ 
niques  and  BASIC  writing  style.  The  class  will  meet  for 
8  weeks  of  two-hour  classes.  Class  hours  are  to  be  ar¬ 
ranged.  Everyone  will  also  have  10  hours  of  free  com¬ 
puter  time.  Cost  is  $40. 

CLASSES  WILL  START  TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER  27 

Both  classes  will  have  a  Christmas  vacation. 


For  more  information,  ask  for  Dave  Kaufman  at  the  ■ 
PCC  telephone:  323-6117. 


The  PCC  Roadshow 

Over  the  past  several  years ,  we  have  devel¬ 
oped  a  rather  unique  approach  to  computer 
education  through  our  various  activities  - 
doing  workshops,  teaching,  writing  curricu¬ 
lum  &  learning  materials.  For  several  years 
we  have  travelled  around  California  to  vari¬ 
ous  campuses  and  learning  festivals  carrying 
our  mini-computers,  media,  and  broad  se - 
lec  tion  of  good  compu  ter  materials.  We 
have  decided  to  put  our  personnel  and  ma¬ 
terials  up  for  rent  for  roadshows/workshops, 
for  personnel  or  teacher  training,  education 
fairs,  weekend  campus  workshops,  as  parti¬ 
cipants  in  educational  fairs  and  future  fes¬ 
tivals  -  any  place  where  experienced  people 
with  lots  of  backup  media  and  materials 
would  have  impact  in  information  dissemi - 
mation  and/or  effective  training.  Call  or 
write  us  concerning  your  situation  and  needs 
and  we  will  design  a  learning  environment  to 
fit  if  possible,  as  well  as  negotiate  a  fee. 


PILOT  SHOT  DOWN 

Dear  People: 

/  learned  some  new  programming  techniques  from  the 
PILOT  73 program,  but  other  than  that,  /  think  that 
PILOT  stinks.  In  your  article,  you  mentioned  "  to 
use  BASIC,  one  must  have  a  minimal  knowledge  of 
algebra. "  Not  one  bit  of  algebra  is  needed  to  program 
on  BASIC  what  you  spacewasters  have  done  on 
PILOT  73!!!  With  the  exception  of  the  M:  statement 
everything  in  PILOT  73  can  be  done  directly  on 
BASIC. 

T:  is  the  same  as  PRINT,  A  :  is  the  same  as  INPUT, 
$label  is  the  same  as  label$,  J:  is  the  same  as  GOTO, 
U:  is  the  same  as  GOSUB;  M:  is  the  only  command 
that  takes  any  trouble  to  program,  N  and  Y  are  IF- 
THEN,  C:  is  LET,  and  R:  is  REM.  It  seems  to  me 
that  PILOT  73  is  a  disguised  BASIC  implemented  on 
BASIC. 

Now  even  though  /  dislike  PILOT  73,  I'm  glad  you 
printed  the  program.  As  /  mentioned,  /  did  learn 
some  things  from  the  program.  PILOT  73  is  a  start 
on  the  road  to  people-run  computers,  but  when  you 
have  a  language  as  simple  as  BASIC,  why  do  you  need 
PILOT  73? 

By  the  way,  /  think  the  April  PCC  is  the  best  put  out 
so  far.  / 1  had  a  lot  of  pages ,  and  it  included  some 
pretty  good  information. 

Joel  McCormack 
3411  Eleanor  Place 
National  City,  CA.  92050 

P.S.  /  will  be  sending  my  program  that  makes  a 
different  picture  every  run  within  a  week. 

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Some  High  Hopes 
in  the  Midwest 


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FLIPS  ’n  CLIPS 

Hello  - 

Tom  Man  del  showed  me  a  copy  of  your  paper  and  told 
me  to  write  you.  Up  'til  now  I've  had  nothing  to  write. 
Now  I  have  a  question:  Do  you  have  any  suggestions  for 
a  cheap  mechanical  flip-flop?  —  a  simple  demonstration 
(working  demonstration)  for  and/or  "circuits".  /  thought 
maybe  you've  heard  of  someone  using  readily  available 
cheap  materials  that  easily  conform  to  flip-flop.  /  want 
children  to  be  able  to  build  their  own  simple  "logic  circuit " 
Pat  Hennessy 
1890  45th  NE 
Salem ,  Or.  97303 

P.S.  If  you  hear  of  anyone  doing  a  thing  with  film  dips 
that  can  be  "edited"  together  in  various  combos,  by 
computer  from  10  stimulus  —  tell  me. 


^  JldLf  J  a  Urwy»^  t ^ 

CINEMIX  1221 -8th  St.,  Berkeley,  CA 

V\4L/>  A  AXkX  /Vv^-£  ^  /vvmpA 


TO:  People's  Computer  Company 

ON:  Compu  ter-assisted  en vironmen  tal  game  and 
simulations 

My  search  for  computer  assisted  environmental  games 
and  simulations  has  led  to  the  People's  Computer 
Company  via  Rusty  Whitney  ofOMSI. 

The  Environmental  Education  Center  at  Portland  State 
University  is  working  with  Expo  '74  (world  fair  in 
Spokane,  Washington,  opens  in  May,  1974)  to  try  to 
introduce  Expo  goers  to  both  the  environmental  deci¬ 
sion-making  process  and  to  some  of  the  specific 
environmental  decisions  citizens  will  have  to  make. 

One  of  the  ways  this  might  be  done  is  through  com¬ 
puter-assisted  games  and  simulations.  The  two  reasons 
for  specifying  computer-assisted  are  to  demonstrate 
a  social  implication  for  the  development  of  technology 
and  to  give  fair  goers  some  personal  experience  with 
this  technology. 

There  are  several  ways  we  might  be  able  to  use  envi¬ 
ronmental  games  and  simulations  at  Expo  — 

...  direct  user-terminal  interaction  which  would 
evaluate  user  decisions  on  environmental  issues. 

...  short  competitive  games  or  simulations  where  users 
would  make  decisions  but  which  would  require  staff 
interface  between  user  and  computer 
...  this  third  use  is  a  bit  different;  instead  of  a  drop-in 
short  time  period,  users  migh  t  pre-register  for  an  all 
day  gaming  workshop.  Workshops  might  be  arranged 
for  special  groups  such  as  'citizens  and  planners  of 
Portland,  OR' etc. 

/  have  access  to  bibliographies  such  as  Horn  and 
Zuckerman  and  Twelker,  but  if  you  know  of  games 
not  listed  in  these  references  or  if  you  have  comments 
or  improvements  on  these,  please  let  me  know.  A  t 
this  point,  finding  workable  ideas,  not  hardware  is  the 
main  problem. 

I'm  looking  forward  to  hearing  from  you  or  your 
readers.  Thank  you. 

Laura  Williamson 
373  Lincoln  Hall 
Portland  State  University 
Portland,  Or.  97207 


~XJL^Y>  A*  . 

wto  srv  o-Ot  - 1-9.,  ,  .vyiA* 

iv  - 

JlA\rs/*c^  ^wwvvi 


DOING  the  TTY 


Dear  Bob: 

There  has  been  a  growing  interest  and  need  on  the 
part  of  myself  and  other  individuals  in  the  Western  -bU-  ^0-^^  a-o 

Michigan  region,  in  developing  a  community  and  ^  ^  XU*. 

research-oriented  center,  with  a  primary  focus  on  ^  ^ 

computer  education  and  related  research  activities.  .  *  1 

Your  participation  in  the  development  of  the  ^ 

People's  Computer  Center,  /  feel,  may  be  closely  c xJUl 

aligned  with  major  facets  of  the  program  now  being  n.  .  ~  0  *  j  ' 

generated  by  our  group.  ^  ^  i 

Therefore,  the  purpose  of  my  correspondence  is  in  y 

requesting  an  inexact  amount  of  information  from 

you,  with  the  notion  of  first,  establishing  contact  pStJLJb  '»w^-»r  JUr\  v  ^ 

with  successful  programs  in  operation  around  the  ^ 

country ,  and  secondly ,  to  obtain  the  requisite  ma- 

ter/a/s  from  these  centers  in  order  that  we  may  begin  Aa-kA.  ^ xj^npp t'T 

formal  initiation  of  our  own  center. 


NEWS  ITEM:  Regarding  source  of  supply  for  Teletype 
* Ribbons.  Readers  may  be  interested  to  know  that  the 
c~*c  lowest  cost  anywhere  for  ribbons  is  directly  from  Teletype 


Our  needs  at  the  moment  are  primarily  developmental 
in  scope.  That  is,  information  related  to  proposal 
generation,  funding,  detailed  listing  of  program  acitivity 
structures/management,  and  implementation,  are 
required  in  fully  assessing  the  priorities  to  be  estab¬ 
lished,  and  to  foresee  problems  and  blunders  by  all 
concerned.  In  short,  our  chief  concern  is  anticipatory 
design,  with  effective  maintenance  procedures,  including 
the  concept  of  self-obsolescence  as  demonstrated  by 
Stewart  Brand  and  Company. 

Your  assistance  with  the  above  stated  needs,  and  referrals 
to  other  individuals  and  groups  you  are  aware  of,  will 
be  invaluable  in  completing  our  efforts.  /  hope  that 
this  short  letter  is  motivating  to  the  point  of  founding 
a  structure  for  future  feedback,  and  also  in  finding  a 
solution  to  alleviate  frustrated  pressure  that  myself 
and  others  must  maintain  in  a  non-re/evant  business 
E DP-orien  ted  en  vironmen  t. 

Konx  Om  Pax 


etc 

V 


Ed  Robertson 

MIS  Administrative  Assistant 
Foremost  Insurance  Company 
5800  Foremost  Drive  S.E. 
Grand  Rapids,  Mi.  4950 1 


DON  UGGLA 

DATA  SERVICE  OPERATION 
DICOMED  CORPORATION 
9700  NEWTON  AVENUE  S. 
MINNEAPOLIS,  MN  55431 

A<rvvvjt.  s 

MCjjjgjTawjjgiD 

Heed  Computer?  Try  Rock 

WATERVILLE,  Me.  —  If  you’re  desper¬ 
ate  for  funds  to  buy  equipment  for  your 
computer  center  you  might  try  a  rock 
concert. 

Sha-Ha-Ha,  a  student  rock  group  from 
Messalonskee  High  School  here,  put  on  a 
benefit  concert  and  raised  some  $560. 
The  funds  were  used  to  help  purchase  a 
Monroe  calculator  for  the  math  depart¬ 
ment. 

“I’ve  been  trying  to  get  some  kind  of 
computer  into  the  system  for  the  last 
four  years,”  said  Joseph  Morin  of  the 
math  department,  “but  every  year  the 
school  board  shot  us  down  because  of 
funds.  So  we  took  the  matter  into  our 
own  hands.” 


Corp.,  5555  Touhy Ave.,  Chicago,  III.  60067.  They  will 
supply  ribbons,  Part  no.  181 129  for  $0. 50  each.  This 
beats  using  old  ribbons  from  Seer,  Sci,  etc.  Also  Teletype 
users  should  request  AS R  33  Bulletins  31  OB,  Vol.  1  and 
Vol.  2.  These  manuals  contain  extensive  data  on  Teletype 
lubrication,  adjustment,  etc.  A  must  for  users. 

Dr.  Gerald  A.  Silver 


OUTTA  WORK  BLUES 


Dear  People: 

Having  just  recently  begun  instruction  in  the  art  and 
science  of  computer  programming  (college  summer  school); 

and  having  been  initially  interested  in  the  more  positive 
aspects  of  the  field  by  S.  Brand's  report  on  the  Inter- 
galactic  Spacewar  Olympics,  etc.,  in  Rolling  Stone 

and  having  decided  to  try  to  eventually  bull  my  way  into 
a  programming  job  somewhere  west  of  the  Mississippi 
(since  my  degree  in  anthropology  is  an  immobile  and 
unmarketable  commodity); 

/  would  appreciate  receiving  a  sample  of  your  newsletter, 
and  information  on  its  subscription  price,  if  there  is  one. 

It  seems  the  work  you  are  doing  is  definitely  worth  looking 
into.  Furthermore,  if  doing  such  things  falls  within  the 
sphere  of  your  job,  /  would  tremendously  appreciate 
your  providing  me  with  a  little  information  on:  ( 1)  other 
means  of  access  to  interesting  useful  and  fun  literature 
in  the  field;  (2)  the  availability  of  computer  work  of  the 
non-profit,  educational  and  people-oriented  variety  in  the 
West,  Southwest,  Northwest  and  other  suitable  places. 

Jerry  L  ombardi 
297  Judwin  A  ve. 

New  Haven,  Ct.  065 15 


V 


Dear  Sir: 

/  am  presently  an  MST  candidate  at  Illinois  Institute 
of  Technology  in  the  CS  Department,  participating  in 
an  Academic  Year  Institute  sponsored  by  NSP  for 
Junior  and  Senior  High  School  Mathematics  teachers. 

My  project  for  this  degree  is  a  series  of  mini-texts  de¬ 
signed  for  the  Junior  High  School  student,  two  of  which 
are  to  be  "Computers  and  Simulation"  and  "Computers 
and  Gaming".  I  do  subscribe  to  The  People's  Computer 
Company  and  have  used  some  of  its  references  and  ideas. 
Are  there  any  further  ideas,  references,  books,  etc.,  you 
would  suggest  aimed  primarily  at  the  7th  and  8th  grade 
student? 

These  texts  are  to  be  individualized  (not programmed 
instruction),  stressing  teacher-student  interaction.  Per¬ 
sonally,  I  have  found  success  as  a  math  teacher  through 
the  logic,  fun,  and  games  approach  to  it  and  agree  there 
is  no  better  method  to  help  students  find  the  value  the 
computer  can  have  on  their  future  than  snaring 
their  interest  this  way. 

Any  help  will  be  greatly  appreciated. 

Mrs.  Joan  Ramuta 
1005  Rooney  Drive 
Joliet,  Illinois  60435 

TicTacTce? 

Dear  People: 

A  little  while  ago  in  one  of  your  papers  /  saw  a  deal  for 
students  that  allowed  $2.00  subscriptions.  Enclosed 
is  the  required  note  from  my  reach er. 

/  like  your  paper  a  great  deal.  There  are  a  lot  of  good 
programming  tips  and  it  also  helps  to  get  others 
interested  in  computers  which  is  not  always  easy. 

John  Reinert 

249  Dolphin  Place 
Bellingham,  Wa.  98225 


Co  Restore  die  Lands;  ftotecc  Uftc  Seas,  And  Inform  Che  Earth's  Stewards 


Help  a  Kid  Make 
a  Konnection 


Dear  Sir(s), 

I  have  recently  moved  from  Corvallis ,  Oregon  to 
Bellevue ,  Washington.  In  Corvallis  I  had  access  to  a 
CDC  3300  and  a  Digital  PDP  12.  A  friend  of  mine 
gave  me  some  old  copies  of  your  newspaper. 

I  have  not  had  any  luck  in  finding  a  computer 
to  use.  So  I  would  greatly  appreciate  it  if  you  could 
send  me  a  list  containing  the  names  &  addresses  (and 
possibly  more  information)  of  your  subscribers  in  the 
Seattle ,  Bellevue  area ,  to  aid  me  in  my  “ search  ”,  Any 
and  all  efforts  will  be  appreciated! 

Thank  you! 


<>~ck  ^ 


A  Friendly  Computer  Freak , 
Stuart  A.  Celarier 
Age  1 3,  Grade  8 
9925  NE  1st  #36 
Bellevue ,  Washington 
98004 


DESIGN-WISE 

Dear  Sirs, 

We  have  an  edu-25  system  on  a  PDP-8e. 
We  also  have  an  optical  mark  card  reader  that 
we  use  for  batch  Basic.  This  card  reader  looks 


just  like  a  terminal  to  the  computer.  The  cards 
are  a  real  help  when  we  are  teaching  a  class. 

The  cards  are  terribly  designed,  we  are  trying 
to  get  our  nerve  up  to  print  our  own  and  redo 
handler.  We  will  let  you  know  if  we  do. 
Princeton  day  school  Sincerely, 
p.  o.  box 73  •  the  great  road.  Thomas  C.  Pears  IV 

Princeton.  N*w  Jersey  06540 


Friends: 

We  have  no  computer  people  here  but  oc¬ 
casionally  find  that  we  could  use  one  in  certain 
portions  of  our  research.  I  was  wondering  if 
during  your  communication  with  other  compu¬ 
ter  people  you  would  watch  for  individuals  who 
might  be  interested  in  using  their  skills  and  re¬ 
sources  to  help  develop  improved  ways  of  relat¬ 
ing  with  nature  and  the  environment.  We  are 
developing  integrated  agriculture/aquaculture/ 
pure  energy  systems  for  decentralized  commu¬ 
nities,  and  feel  that  it’s  a  shame  that  many  of 
your  contributors  have  only  games  to  play.  I 
think  that  if  the  proper  individuals  would  be 
interested,  the  machines  could  be  used  to  carry 
out  many  useful  functions  in  such  a  scheme, 
such  as  garden  layout  planning  (input  being 
companion  and  antagonism  relationships  be¬ 
tween  species),  solar  heater  designs  for  specif¬ 
ic  latitudes,  windmill  blade  characteristics  for 
various  conditions,  etc. 

If  you  know  of  any  of  your  acquaint¬ 
ances  who  may  have  interests  along  these  lines, 
or  anyone  who  may  have  suggestions  on  how 
we  could  apply  computers  as  resources  to  what 
we  are  doing,  I  would  be  very  happy  to  get  in 
touch  with  them. 

Yours  for  a  kinder,  greener  world, 
Earle  Barnhart  For  New  Alchemy 

•D,  /rf/rjrmy  ■  htiiiAii. 

.  y/.fJ.  :JA,,  m ?  . 


Tfw/t  j/fyr.  -.Ha  C2.J4J 


P.S.  /  use  a  IBM  360-40,  IBM  7090  and  also  write  in 
Course  Writer  III,  BASIC,  and  a  subset  of  PL/I  called 
W.P.I.  All  three  of  these  are  available  through  the 
terminals. 

And  also,  do  you  know  where  /  can  get  a  learning 
Tic-Tac-Toe  program? 

I 


(j^wtrvs 

BviCD  *  TV.  T>|f£Wfc\«TEJ^ 


I 


MORAL2  IF  Y 00  ntMXJ.  WANT  TO  DO 

SOMCTXINfr  ABOOT  RESTORING-  BALANCE 
AMP  MARMONV  AMONG  TME  UF£  FORMS 
ON  THIS  RANET,  TORN  BABYLON  OTStp* 
rx**w,  SCRAPE  TW«  JV/T  OFF  IT.  A  NO  - 

G/VE  IT  BACK  TV  THE  /WD/ANSh 


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BUILD  A  TV  TYPEWRITER 

Put  Your  Message  OnThe-ftcraeo. 


MISTER  ANTENNA  SYSTEMS 
HowTo  Wire  A  House 


TV  &  FM  ANTENNAS 
For  Best  Pictures  &  Stereo 


by  DON  LANCASTER 

This  construction  project  started  out  as  a 
very  low-cost  computer  terminal  for  home 
use,  but  as  it  went  together,  we  became 
aware  of  the  many  possible  noncomputer 
uses  for  such  a  device,  particularly  since  it 
is  priced  right.  What  can  you  do  with  a  ma¬ 
chine  that  puts  letters  and  numbers  on  an 
ordinary  unmodified  TV  set? 

Obviously,  it’s  a  computer  terminal  for 
timesharing  services,  schools,  and  experi¬ 
mental  uses.  It’s  a  ham  radio  teletype  ter¬ 
minal.  Coupled  to  the  right  services,  it  can 
also  display  news,  stock  quotations,  time, 
and  weather.  It’s  a  communications  aide  for 
the  deaf.  It’s  a  teaching  machine,  partic¬ 
ularly  good  for  helping  preschoolers  learn 
the  alphabet  and  words.  It  also  keeps  them 
busy  for  hours  as  an  educational  toy. 


GET  THE  COMPLETE  STORY 
The  TV  Typewriter  is  a  very  special 
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long,  multi-part  article  in  Radio- 
Electronics. 

To  make  it  possible  for  interested 
readers  to  get  full  details  of  the 
unit  and  to  immediately  start  con¬ 
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a  special  package  of  additional 
data,  including  complete  construc¬ 
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To  order  your  construction  details, 
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Radio-Electronics 
45  E.  17  St. 

New  York,  N.Y.  10003 


I 


£VI£VS 


Icomputers  in  Education  Resource  Handbook 

\From:  Resource  Handbook 

Department  of  Computer  Science 
University  of  Oregon 
Eugene,  Oregon  97403 

Price:  $10.00,  ?  pages  [we  didn’t  count  them / 
Weight:  over  3'A  pounds. 

For  those  of  you  that  are  not  aware,  Oregon  is 
one  of  the  real  leaders  in  using  computers  in 
Ischools.  There  is  probably  more  school  com¬ 
puting  per  capita  in  Oregon  than  anywhere  in 
the  country. 

It  is  finally  done.  A  book  that  will  tell  you 
Idamn  near  everything  you  could  possibly  want 
know  about  using  computers  in  education. 

It  was  written  by  a  TEAM  of  experienced  teach¬ 
ers  in  Oregon.  It’s  good.  It’s  complete.  It’s 
I  worth  buying. 

The  objective  of  this  resource  book  is  “to  aid 
teachers  and  administrators  to  increase  their 
knowledge  and  understanding  of  the  role  and 
nature  of  computers  in  education”.  It’s  not  a 
cover-to-cover  reader  for  everyone.  You  can 
select  the  topics  you  are  interested  in  and  just 
read  them.  It  is  anticipated  that  the  Handbook 
will  be  updated  in  the  next  1 2  months  (with 
|YOUR  feedback)  and  finally  republished  in 
late  74  (it  was  written  in  summer  of  73).  But 
[you  can  buy  it  now. 

It’s  Huge.  More  reading  than  any  one  person 
Icould  read  in  a  week.  But  it’s  complete  .  .  . 
Iwow!  We  didn’t  read  the  whole  thing  (I  can’t 
[believe  anybody  could  read  the  WHOLE  thing) 
Ibut  what  we  read  was  good,  concise  and  to  the 
■point.  Most  chapters  ended  with  abstracts  of 
^current  articles  that  you  can  use  for  further  ref- 

Ierence.  Some  chapters  ended  with  lists  .  .  . 
lists  of  people,  places  and  things  that  you 
should  contact  for  further  information. 


I 


I 


I 


^Here  are  the  chapter  titles  and  some  pf  my  re¬ 
actions: 

Chapter  I  -  Purpose  of  the  Book. 

Chapter  II  -  Computers  in  Education.  A 
technical  overview  along  with  a  huge  glossary 
of  terms  pl.us  an  attempt  to  answer  the  ques¬ 
tion  -  Why  use  computers  in  education?  - 
good  reading. 

Chapter  III  -  Teaching  about  the  Computer. 

All  about  teaching  computer  literacy,  com¬ 
puter  programming  and  computer  science. 

Even  a  “how  to  use  the  CARDIAC”  paper 
computer  section. 

Chapter  IV  -  The  Computer  as  an  Aid  to 
Learning.  Use  of  simulation  programs,  pack¬ 
aged  programs,  and  information  retrieval  sys¬ 
tems.  Pleased  to  see  some  time  devoted  to 
junior  high  computer  usage  though  they  don’t&jt 
feel  much  impact  has  taken  place,  yet. 

Chapter  V  -  The  Computer  as  a  Teacher. 
Computer  Assisted  Instruction  (CAI)  and 
overview  with  some  comments  on  its  im¬ 
pact  (little)  and  it’s  future  (maybe). 

Chapter  VI  -  The  Computer  as  a  Classroom 
Management  Tool.  A  brief  look  at  CMI 
mainly  centered  on  Project  PLAN.  I  was 
surprised  to  see  no  mention  of  Comprehen¬ 
sive  Achievement  Monitoring  (CAM). 

Chapter  VII  -  Administrative  Uses  of  Com¬ 
puters.  A  quick  look  at  what  can  be  done 
with  emphasis  on  how  to  train  adminstators 


in  the  use  of  computers.  A  pertinent  com¬ 
ment  that  administrators  don’t  need  to  know 
everything  but  they  SHOULDN’T  BE 
NOVICES  EITHER. 

Chapter  VIII  -  Computing  Facilities.  They 
used  our  past  issues  for  reference  (plus  a  lot 
of  other  things)  and  came  up  with  an  out¬ 
standing  chapter.  A  little  about  bidding,  an 
excellent  article  called  “Some  Hardware  and 
Software  Considerations”  (which  we  will  re¬ 
print  in  an  upcoming  SPECIAL  ISSUE),  a 
lovely  commentary  on  your  computer  lab 
(minimize  supervision  to  maximize  usage) 
and  some  good  information  on  computer 
networks. 

Chapter  IX  -  Computers  in  Special  Educa¬ 
tion.  Nothing  written  yet.  Any  of  you  care 
to  contribute?' 

Chapter  X  -  Surveys.  Abstracts  of  surveys 
mostly  covering  who  is  doing  and  how  many 
schools  have  computers  and  how  they  are 
used.  Nothing  on  how  effective  computers 
are  in  learning. 

Chapter  XI  -  Computers  in  Research. 

Chapter  XII  -  Inservice  Training.  It’s  im¬ 
portance  and  a  brief  set  of  suggestions  on 
how  to  teach  teachers  how  to  use  compu¬ 
ters. 

Chapter  XIII-  Sources  of  Additional  Infor¬ 
mation.  Books,  periodicals,  non-print  ma¬ 
terials,  places  to  visit,  people  to  talk  to,  ma¬ 
jor  nrruprtc  a  rnnwlpte  list  o  f  resources 

One  criticism.  No  mention  of  any  evidence  that 
computers  are  EFFECTIVE  in  improving  kids 
learning  or  understanding.  If  such  evidence  is 
available,  I  wish  someone  would  let  me  and  the 
authors  know  about  it.  Such  information  would 
add  frosting  to  this  cake  of  a  handbook.  It 
would  also  help  those  poor  souls  who  are  trying 
to  justify  computer  acquisition  and  run  into  the 
“cost  effective”  freaks  that  are  frequenting 
school  boards  these  days.  (No  offense  gang,  it’s 
just  hard  to  justify  a  computer  these  days  on  a 
cost  effective  basis  with  no  evidence  that  it  IS 
cost  effective.) 


I  Computer  Conversations  (Speaking  in  BASIC) 

Ten  Most  Wanted 
Natural  Numbers 

$500  Reward 

Teachers,  Junior  and  Senior  High: 

Looking  for  a  set  of  programming  problems 
for  your  students  with  a  high  interest  value, 
lots  of  challenge,  and  wide  ability  range?  Ther 
this  collection  may  just  be  the  starter  set  you 
have  been  looking  for. 

We  say  “starter  set”  for  several  reasons.  The 
problems  (41  of  them)  are  on  5x8  cards,  henc.e 
easily  added  to,  rearranged,  filed,  grouped  by 
types  of  problems,  etc.  You  can  give  the  wholJ 
deck  to  the  students  and  have  them  choose 
problems  to  work  on,  or  post  one  a  day  or  one 
a  week  on  the  bulletin  board  in  the  computer 
room  (i.e.  “Problem  of  the  Week”).  As  you  or 
your  students  think  of  problems,  they  can  be 
easily  added  to  the  deck.  In  fact,  we  would 
like  to  suggest  that  as  problems  are  added,  you 
share  them  with  the  authors  and  others  (may¬ 
be  through  PCC?). 


If  you’re  starting,  in  the  middle  and  even  if  you 
THINK  you  know  it  all,  get  this  Handbook  - 
it’s  excellent.  LeRoy 


I 


I 


I 


Most  of  the  problems  are  in  the  category  of 
“Number  Theory”.  For  example: 

Problem  #6: 

“If  the  sum  1+2  +  3  +  ...+  Kisa  per-  | 
feet  square  (N^)  and  if  N  is  less  than  100, 
what  are  the  possible  values  of  K?” 

Some  have  a  very  practical  twist.  For  exam¬ 
ple:  I 

Problem  #21 : 

“There  are  10  simple  animals  in  a  labora¬ 
tory  culture  and  enough  food  for  1000 
such  animals  at  time  zero  (the  present).  | 
Every  hour,  the  population  doubles  and 
enough  food  is  added  to  the  culture  to 
feed  4000  more  animals  than  at  the  pre¬ 
vious  hour.  When,  if  ever,  will  the  popu¬ 
lation  outgrow  the  food  supply?”  | 

We  did  not  find  any  problems  that  required 
more  than  a  knowledge  of  simple  algebra. 

Most  require  only  some  logical  thinking.  Some 
are  easy  enough  for  the  beginning  programmer.! 
Others  are  quite  challenging. 


The  Teacher’s  Guide  contains  listings  of  sug¬ 
gested  programs  (annotated)  with  some  hints 
on  how  to  use  the  cards. 

One  thing  we  found  for  sure.  Any  student  who 
attempts  a  number  of  these  problems  will  come 
out  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  loops,  nested 
and  otherwise! 

Jim  Norton 


From:  The  Math  Group 

5625  Girard  Ave,  So, 
Minneapolis ,  Mn  55419 


I 


Price:  Cards:  $3,00  per  set 

Tchr*s  Guide:  $2,00  each 

Add  15$  Postage  &  Handling  -dj ( 
for  each  item. 


4t  x  M  M  £  4#  .1 


(ZON 


A1 


I 


In  Which  Max  and  Minnie  Meet  Scramm 


The  Adventures  of  TAXMAN  = 

[Ed.  Note:  See  PCC  Vol.  2,  No.  1  (September  1973),  Page  6  for  an  explanation  of  TAXMAN,  HANDTAX,  TAXMAX,  and  TAXMIN.] 


Dear  Max, 

Keep  your  chin(s)  up  -  we  found  out  how  you  can  get  the  MAXIMUM  score  for  the  list  with  ten  numbers  (your  score  is  40, 
the  Taxman's  is  15). 

HANDTAX  shows  how  to  do  it. 

1  3  2  5  4  3  1  5  2  4 

You  get  7  +  9  +  6+  10+8  =  40;  the  Taxman  gets  1  +  3  +  2  +  5  +  4=  15. 

And  here's  a  way  to  prove  it's  the  maximum  score. 

The  Taxman  must  get  at  least  half  the  numbers  in  the  list  (i.e.  at  least  5  numbers)  since  he  has  to  get  at  least  one  factor  every 

time  you  choose  a  number.  Therefore,  you  can  get  at  most  5  numbers.  Since  you  are  able  to  pick  the  largest  5,  you  have  the 

maximum ! 

We  have  formed  a  chapter  of  the  Society  for  the  Creation  of  a  Routine  Appropriate  for  Max  (SCRAM).  We  are  enclosing  our 
charter  and  membership  information. 

Hoping  you  can  get  all  that's  coming  to  you, 
SCRAM 

Dear  Minnie, 


We  find  your  problem  to  be  of  great  interest  to  us.  We  have  discovered  how  to  get  the  MINIMUM  score  for  the  list  with  twenty  numbers  (your  score  is  40, 
the  Taxman's  is  170). 


HANDTAX  shows  how  to  do  it. 


132543152  4  T  T  T 

**SX.:K(D(7)<i)(§)<J§)l1  12  13 


T  T  T  T 
14  15  16  17 


T  T  T 
18  19  20 


And  here's  a  way  to  prove  it's  the  minimum  score. 


The  integers  1-5  are  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  list;  6-10  are  in  the  second  quarter;  and  1 1-20  are  in  the  second  half. 


1  2  3  4  5 

Firs  t^quar  ter 


11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 


Seconcrfialf 


19  20 

_ J 


If  an  integer  m  from  the  second  quarter  (6-10)  is  never  chosen  by  you,  then  you  will  have  to  take  either  n1  =  2*m  which  is  always  in  the  second  half,  or 
n2  =  3 *m  which  may  be  in  the  second  half.  Notice  that  4*m  is  always  too  large  to  be  in  the  second  half  of  the  list. 


Conversely,  choosing  an  integer  r  from  the  second  half  can  eliminate  at  most  two  factors  (Sj  and  s2)  from  the  second  quarter  (and  maybe  some  some  fac¬ 
tors  from  the  first  quarter).  This  would  mean  that  r  =  2*s1  and  r  =  3*s2 .  But  then  s1+s2<r  so  you  would  always  get  a  smaller  score  by  choosing  s1 
and  s2  (if  you  could)  rather  than  r.  Therefore,  the  lowest  possible  score  must  be  at  least  the  sum  of  the  integers  in  the  second  quarter  -  in  this  case,  the 
lowest  score  must  be  at  least  6  +  7  +  8  +  9+10  =  40. 


But  we  were  able  to  play  TAXMAN  giving  up  all  the  integers  except  those  in  the  second  quarter  for  a  scoVe  of  40!  Therefore,  we  have  found  the  minimum 
score. 

We  have  formed  a  chapter  of  the  Society  for  the  Creation  of  a  Routine  Appropriate  for  Minnie  (SCRAM).  We  are  enclosing  our  charter  and  membership 
information. 


Hoping  you  can  accumulate  as  little  as  possible, 
SCRAM 

[Ed.  Note:  What  SCRAM  is  really  saying  to  Minnie  is  that  if  you  didn’t  take  6  or  7  or  8  or  9  or  10,  you  would  have  to  take 
12  or  14  or  16  or  18  or  20  (twice  what  you  didn’t  take)  and  that  you’ll  always  end  up  with  a  higher  score  by  doing  it  that  way.] 


[Ed.  Note:  It  seemed  a  heavy  burden,  indeed,  to  have  to  inform  the  SCRAM  chapters  that 
their  choices  of  names  were  ambiguous  (one  was  formed  for  MAX,  the  other  for  MINNIE). 
But  I  noticed  an  incredible  coincidence  --  the  strategy  used  for  TAXMAX  with  a  10-number 
list  was  identical  to  the  strategy  used  for  TAXMIN  with  a  20-number  list!!  I  have  forwarded 
this  observation  to  each  SCRAM  chapter  along  with  the  suggestion  of  the  formation  of  a 
joint  group,  the  Society  for  the  Creation  of  a  Routine  Appropriate  for  Max  and  Minnie 
(SCRAMM).] 


ri&ORi  I) 


++++  OFFICIAL  TAXMAN  COUPON  **** 

□  Enclosed  are  hints,  stategies,  and  results 
from  plays  of  TAXMAN. 

□  I  wish  to  join  my  local  SCRAMM. 

□  I  want  to  form  a  local  SCRAMM.  Please 
enclose  the  charter  and  membership  in¬ 
formation. 

□  I  am  enclosing  $  to  support  an  inter¬ 
national  SCRAMM  drive. 


NAME: 

ADDRESS: 


Mail  to:  TAXMAN 
c/o  PCC 
P.O.  Box  310 
Menlo  Park,  Ca  94025 


Try  some  other  lists  for  Max  and  Minnie  --  in 
particular,  try  a  list  for  Max  and  then  play 
TAXMIN  with  a  list  that  is  twice  that  size. 


Friends , 

We  are  deeply  gratified  by  the  progress 
you  have  made .  It  is  our  sincere  hope 
that  our  individual  problems  may  in 
fact  be  somehow  connected  and  that 
through  a  joint  SCRAMM  effort  they 
may  be  solved.  Thank  you  for  your 
support. 


Curses!  So  Max  and  Minnie 
are  joining  forces.  But  there 
are  complications  (sneer) 
they've  never  dreamed  of  - 
chortle,  chortle. 


What  is  the  connection  between  TAXMAX  and 
TAXMIN?  Was  this  just  a  coincidence  or  is  it 
the  beginning  of  a  lasting  relationship?  What 
complications  might  the  TAXMAN  have  in 
store  for  our  heroic  couple?  Be  sure  not  to 
miss  the  next  thrill-packed  issue! 


L\XK Y 


Examples  of  two  dimensional 
designs  with  circular  symmetry. 
Such  can  be  turned  out  in  great 
^Variety  and  with  very  little  both¬ 
er  using  computer  graphics. 


Dear  Pam , 

Thank  you  for  the  chance  to  express  some  thoughts  on  computer  art  and  its  future . 
My  academic  background  is  in  mathematics  and  my  present  job  is  not  directly  in¬ 
volved  with  computer  graphics.  But  I  have  been  interested  in  its  esthetic  possibilities 
for  three  years  and  presently  have  access  to  a  DatagraphiX  4460  Computer  Output 
Microfilm  (COM)  recorder.  This  is  operated  offline  from  tapes  generated  by  an  IBM 
7094  computer  in  a  strictly  batch  processing  environment. 

I  think  that  electronic  graphics  devices  offer  more  esthetic  potential  than  mechanical 
plotters  because  of  their  much  greater  speed  and  because  of  their  greater  variety  of 
graphical  effects  subject  to  program  control.  For  example ,  the  COM  recorder  lam 
now  using  plots  a  vector  on  16  mm  film  in  about  4  milliseconds ,  and  there  are  four 
choices  of  line  width  and  four  choices  of  line  intensity.  Color  is  already  available 
at  some  installations  (see  Popular  Science ,  February ,  1973).  High  costs  and  the 
difficulty  in  getting  large  prints  are  present  drawbacks  to  COM.  But  the  great  speed 
of  electronic  displays  allows  the  generation  of  numerous  modiciations  of  a  design 

or  the  direct  production  of  animated  films. 

* 

For  example ,  when  I  first  program  a  design  I  make  certain  features  variables  which 
are  to  be  read  in  from  data  cards.  These  features  may  include  line  width,  a  starting 
seed  for  a  sequence  of  random  numbers,  placement  and  relative  size  of  components, 
a  view  point  for  perspective  representations,  the  number  of  points  on  a  star,  and  so 
on.  In  one  computer  run  each  such  set  of  design  parameters  is  acted  upon  by  the 
program  which  advances  the  film  and  makes  separate  plots.  Thus  simply  adding 
data  cards  produces  entire  new  variations.  Of  course  in  the  debug  stages  an  inter¬ 
active  terminal  display  of  these  variations  would  be  a  great  help.  This  parametri - 
zation  of  designs  and  the  resulting  ease  of  total  modification  is  a  distinctive  aspect 
of  computer  art  and  permits  the  “mass  production”  of  different  prints.  A  com¬ 
puter  artist  could  market  his  work  as  an  edition  of  unique  prints. 

Ido  not  think  computer  graphics  can  enter  into  and  compete  with  most  painting 
traditions,  with  the  possible  exception  of  certain  hard  edge  or  linear  styles.  But 
it  should  be  increasingly  applied  in  areas  of  commercial  art  such  as  advertising, 
fabric  design,  educational  illustration,  and  architecture.  Uniform  coloring  of  an 
area  with  plotters  is  technically  difficult  and  I  feel  computer  art  would  be  more 
impressive  if  there  was  more  manual  and  photographic  modification  of  the  output. 
Collaboration  of  commercial  artists  and  programmers  should  be  productive. 

Ido  think  that  computer  graphics  makes  possible  whole  new  modes  of  esthetic 
expression  that  will  produce  dazzling  visual  experiences  in  the  coming  decades. 
Computer  animated  geometrical  designs  are  a  well  known  example.  The  color 
film  Permutations  by  John  Whitney  and  Jack  Citron  is  an  impressive  sequence  of 
transforming  mandalas.  Newer  technology  makes  such  work  easier  and  lam  sure 
there  are  more  recent  examples  I  haven’t  seen.  For  cost  reasons  I  haven’t  made 
a  film  using  COM  but  the  basic  programming  is  simple  in  principle  —  in  a  large 
loop  an  image  is  incrementally  transformed,  plotted,  and  the  film  is  advanced  one 
frame. 

I  expect  to  see  more  interpretive  color  displays  of  sound  (music)  on  home  tele¬ 
vision  screens.  Perhaps  all  present  attempts  use  analog  methods;  but  digital  pro¬ 
cessing  in  the  conversion  of  sound  to  an  image  might  be  tried.  Digressing  here,  my 
guess  is  that  a  clever  real  time  visual  display  of  vocal  sounds  would  give  a  deaf  child 
the  understanding  of  speech  and  the  feedback  to  learn  to  speak.  This  might  be 
the  fastest  way  for  anyone  to  learn  to  speak,  and  if  the  display  included  the  letters 

spoken  (a  difficult  programming  feat  given  our  present  language  and  spelling)  one 
might  learn  to  read  at  the  same  time,  at  a  very  early  age.  In  any  case  this  present 
ability  of  the  mind  to  express  itself  instantly  in  pictures  suggests  possibilities  of 
some  higher  order  visual  communication  system  evolving.  Such  a  language  of  light 
could  use  the  full  capability  of  the  retina  ( e.g .,  parallel  processing)  rather  than  using 
it  as  a  model  of  the  ear  as  a  printed  phonetic  alphabet  does.  I  don ’t  have  the 
technical  background  to  work  in  this  area  now;  but  it’s  fun  to  speculate  about  and 
if  I  ever  return  to  school  I  may  get  into  it. 


Hypercube  Dilation.  A  demonstration  of  animation  possibilities  in  4  frames.  Seven  cells 
of  a  4-dimensional  "hypercube"  are  progressively  contracted  about  their  centers  and  pro¬ 
jected  into  three  dimensional  space.  An  easy  program  if  general  geometrical  subroutines 
are  available. 


Another  new  artistic  medium  made  possible  by  the  accuracy  of  computer  graphics 
is  stereoscopic  art.  Stereo  pairs  of  drawings  are  easy  to  produce  —  one  just  plots 
two  projections  from  displaced  eye  positions.  Although  the  first  stereoscopic  images 
seen  were  manual  drawings  by  Wheatstone ,  the  drafting  difficulties  prevented  any 
important  artistic  applications  and  the  whole  idea  became  associated  with  photo¬ 
graphic  ultrarealism.  A  stereoscope  should  be  looked  upon  as  simply  a  device  to 
present  separate  images  to  the  eyes,  and  these  images  do  not  have  to  be  restricted 
to  separate  views  of  a  single  spatial  configuration.  The  most  promising  idea  here 
is  to  use  “binocular  rivalry”  effects.  This  is  the  presentation  of  unmatched  and 
conflicting  colors  and  contours  to  corresponding  parts  of  the  left  and  right  retinas. 
Reactions  are  very  individualistic  and  color  rivalries  can  cause  the  appearance  of 
lustre,  alternations  of  colors,  or  even  the  additive  light  mixture  of  the  two  —  an 
effect  much  sought  by  the  impressionist  painter.  Dynamically  changing  perceptions 
produced  by  binocular  rivalry  are  the  experience  of  processes  in  the  visual  cortex 
at  the  back  of  the  brain,  processes  that  search  for  a  unified  interpretation  of  the 
stimuli.  Work  in  “binocular  art”  is  going  to  be  esthetically  difficult  (e.g.,  avoiding 
visual  discomfort)  and  quality  presentation  requires  a  35  mm  stereo  slide  viewer. 

Still  this  is  something  I  would  particularly  enjoy  experimenting  with  in  the  future. 
Some  simple  stereo  films  have  already  been  made  using  COM.  But  imagine  the 
possibilities  of  a  full  color  stereoscopic  film  with  music  and  rivalry  effects  in  the 
images.  This  could  be  a  fantastic  neurological  excursion. 

Most  of  my  effort  in  computer  graphics  has  been  in  the  development  of  general 
programs  to  assist  in  the  production  of  line  drawings  —  not  in  the  actual  production 
of  such  drawings .  The  result  is  a  package  of  FORTRAN  subroutines  with  such 
capabilties  as  reflection,  rotation,  duplication,  cross  sections,  automatic  viewpoint 
selection  and  scaling,  hidden  line  deletion ,  and  a  repertoire  of  stored  polyhedra. 

All  procedures  work  for  two,  three,  or  four  dimensional  figures  and  are  independent 
of  any  particular  graphics  device  except  for  a  single  statement.  These  programs 
are  particularly  suited  for  esthetic  and  educational  uses  of  plotters  and  I  hope  I  can 
find  another  job  this  year  that  involves  a  continuation  of  this  work  or  other  graphics 
applications.  Also  I  look  forward  to  more  experimentation  and  production  of  com¬ 
puter  art  itself,  preferably  in  collaboration  with  artists  or  photographers.  Program¬ 
ming  as  it  is,  I  see  computer  art  as  a  disciplined  undertaking,  and  requiring  the 
efficient  use  of  expensive  machines.  Eventually  it  may  be  easier  and  cheaper. 

But  even  with  the  present  technology  I  believe  computer  art  has  the  capability 
to  generate  the  most  exciting  visual  experiences  of  the  twentieth  century. 

Daniel  W.  Van  Arsdale 
5361  Perkins  Rd.,  No.  5 

Oxnard,  California  93030 


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the  films  of  JOHN  WHITNEY 


16mm  sound  films 

Title 

Permutations 
Osaka  1-2-3 
Matrix 


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Minutes 

7 

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All  are  in  color,  except  Osaka  1-2-3. 


Pyramid  Films 

Box  1048 
Santa  Monica 
California  90406 


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Price 
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The  marvel  of  the  modern  computer  need  not  ob¬ 
scure  the  probability  that  even  smaller  and  more  ver¬ 
satile  graphic  systems  lie  ahead.  Nor  the  probability 
that  future  generations  of  artists  will  know  better 
how  to  use  these  systems. 

I  have  tried  thus  far  to  present  a  different,  hope¬ 
fully  an  unexpected  introduction  to  my  work  in  order 
to  stress  that  it  is  not  a  film  art  like  any  of  the  forms 
of  film  art  that  are  established  and  well-known  today. 

I  could  say  that  what  I  am  doing  is  more  akin  to  mu¬ 
sic  than  to  film  art.  but  that  too  evokes  preconceptions 
that  1  wish  to  avoid.  All  that  my  work  has  in  common 
with  music  is.  let  us  say,  this  patterning  of  various 
periodic  phenomena  in  time. 

With  the  computer  as  an  animation  tool,  however, 
its  mathematical  determinants  have  led  directly  into  a 
new  world  of  integer  ratios  and  algebraic  functions  —  v 
harmonic  phenomena  which  express  themselves 
graphically.  L/ 

First  of  all,  since  the  computer  positions  and 
shapes  any  graphic  object  by  x-y  coordinates  it  be¬ 
comes  the  most  natural  way  to  position  and  move 
objects  by  way  of  some  dynamic  numerical  functions 
of x  and >\  Immediately  harmonic  functions  come  to 
mind  with  regard  to  moving  objects  relative  to  each 
other.  Thinking  of  graphic  form,  since  it  all  must  be 
expressed  in.Y-v  or  polar  coordinates  anyway,  impels 
one  toward  number  functions. 

It  is  ironic,  to  say  the  least,  that  most  artist  experi¬ 
menters  with  computer  graphics  thus  far  have  sought 
ways  to  circumvent  the  imposing  fact  that  all  their 
graphic  conceptions  must  be  translated  into  number 
functions.  After  resisting  this  rather  tedious  reality 
for  some  time  myself,  I  have  come  to  welcome  the 
mathematical  basis  of  computer  graphics  because  of 
the  structural  advantages  I  have  discovered  thereby.  I 
have  come  to  accept  the  numerical  problems  which 
are  natural  procedure  with  my  computerized  tool. 

Now  I  find  that  this  very  acceptance  has  opened  the 
door  to  a  new  world  of  visual  design  in  motion  whose 
true  essence  is  digital  periodicity.  But  for  some  details 
that  are  not  important,  this  is  much  the  same  world 
that  the  composer  has  known  for  at  least  a  thousand 
years,  composing  audio  design  periodicity. 

The  first  illustration  (fig.  1)  is  a  series  of  frames 
from  the  computer  generated  film,  PERMUTA¬ 
TIONS.  *  These  frames  were  selected  fiom  much 
longer  sequences  in  the  film  in  order  to  illustrate 
what  might  be  termed  periodic  visual  harmonics.  In 
each  frame,  there  are  two  hundred  and  eighty-one 
points  which  move  about  the  motion  picture  field 
according  to  a  set  of  instructions  in  a  graphic  pro¬ 
gram  which  were  input  to  the  computer.  The  program  ^ 
instructions  say,  in  effect:  Starting  at  the  center  of  ( 
the  screen,  step  to  the  right  a  computed  distance  and  y 
move  in  an  arc  around  counter  clockwise  so  many 
computed  angular  degrees  and  place  one  point.  From 
there,  compute  a  new  radius  distance  outward  and  a 
new  theta  arc  around  and  place  another  point.  Now 
repeat  this  procedure  again  and  again  to  locate  a  total 
of  281  points.  This  takes  about  a  second  or  two  com¬ 
putation  time  on  the  computer  to  produce  only  one 
frame  of  the  motion  picture.  Each  frame  is  slightly 
different  because  some  of  the  parameters  of  the  in¬ 
struction  equation  are  changing  with  each  new  com¬ 
puted  picture. 

Fig.  1. 


INFORMATION  PROCESSING  71  -  NORTH-HOLLAND  PUBLISHING  COMPANY  (1972) 
Invited  Papers  Sciences  and  Humanities 

A  COMPUTER  ART  FOR  THE  VIDEO  PICTURE  WALL 


John  H.  WHITNEY 

600  Erskine  Drive,  Pacific  Palisades,  California  90272,  USA 


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PERMUTATIONS  7  min.  This  film  is  available  from  the 
Museum  ol  Modern  Art,  New  York  or  Pyramid  Films,  Box 
1048,  Santa  Monica.  California  90406. 


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If  you  were  to  watch  the  picture  on  the  screen  24 
new  pictures  a  second  are  displayed  and  you  can  see 
changes  taking  place  sometimes  very  rapidly  and 
sometimes  quite  slowly.  This  rate  is  determined  by 
the  size  of  the  incremental  steps,  or  the  parametric 
changes,  as  they  are  written  into  the  basic  equation. 
Points  seem  to  be  scattered  around  in  a  circular  area 
randomly  at  one  moment.  But  at  certain  moments 
they  all  seem  to  fall  in  line  to  make  up  some  simple 
rose  curve,  symmetrical  figure;  sometimes  it  is  a  three 
lobed  figure,  or  ten  or  four  or  two  Iobed  figure. 

These  action  sequences  proceeding  from  order  to 
disorder  and  back  to  ordered  patterning,  suggest  a 
parallel  to  harmonic  phenomena  of  the  musical  scale. 
In  an  aesthetic  sense,  they  have  the  same  effect;  the 
tensional  effects  of  consonance  and  dissonance.  The 
scattered  points  fall  into  some  ordered  symmetrical 
figure  when  all  the  numerical  values  of  the  equation 
reach  some  integer  or  whole  number  set  of  ratios.  The 
effect  is  to  subtly  generate  and  resolve  tension  which 
is  similar  to  the  primary  emotional  power  of  music 
composition.  Incidently,  the  link  between  mathemat¬ 
ics  and  music  having  been  remarked,  it  is  particularly 
the  whole  number  hantonic  ratios  which  support  such 
suppositions. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  static  illustrations  to  this 
text  do  not  begin  to  show  what  is  already  a  rather 
subtle  and  fleeting  experience  in  the  motion  picture 
film.  Musical  illustrations  to  any  text  on  that  subject 
usually  presume  that  the  reader  may  perform  the 
illustration  if  need  be.  That  is,  of  course,  impossible 
here.  Yet  this  is  the  best  and  simplest  illustration  I 
have  so  far.  This  may  suggest  how  a  motion  graphic 
parallel  to  the  harmonic  phenomena  of  music  is  be¬ 
ginning  to  take  shape.  It  is  a  clue  as  to  how  visual 
form  may  be  shaped  into  periodic  elements  for  the 
construction  in  time  and  space  of  moving  visual  ele¬ 
ments  of  nascent  time-oriented  abstract  art. 

As  a  second  illustration  of  periodic  visual  har¬ 
monic  structure,  a  few  frames  have  been  selected  (in 
the  same  runner  as  fig.  1 )  from  the  film  MATRIX.* 

Instead  of  the  simple  circular  pathway  of  PERMU¬ 
TATIONS,  now,  in  MATRIX,  the  pathway  is  a  more 
complex  orbit  which  folds  around  and  back  on  itself 
and  extends  in  three  dimensional  x,y,  z,  space.  (See 
first  frame  of  fig.  2.)  All  action  moves  along  this  path 
and  the  visual  harmonic  principle  has  become  more 
sophisticated.  Lines  and  cubes  move  around  this  orbit 
path  in  the  film,  but  in  this  example,  I  will  show 
what  happens  to  the  cluster  of  squares.  Each  square 
moves  independently  of  its  neighbor.  The  lead  square 
has  the  fastest  rate.  Each  following  square  is  moving 
slightly  slower.  So  the  squares  spread  out  along  their 
orbit.  The  lead  square  “laps”  the  slowest  moving 
square,  like  cars  on  a  race  track.  However,  chance  is 
not  the  controlling  factor.  The  factor  of  whole  num¬ 
ber  ratios  is  at  work  here  as  in  the  previous  illustra¬ 
tion.  Harmonic  phenomena  dictates  that  sooner  or 
later  this  apparent  randomness  will  be  punctuated  by 
in  orderly  arrangement  of  these  squares  just  as  the 
random  array  of  points  in  PERMUTATIONS  fall  into 
rose  curve  patterns.  (See  last  three  frames  of  fig.  2.) 

So  MATRIX  too  is  another  exercise  in  visual  har¬ 
monic  composition.  It  too,  I  think,  is  rather  clumsy; 
as  you  would  expect  from  beginning  exercises  of  a 
youthful  composer's  first  note  book.  1  am  not  that 
young,  but  I  hope  you  can  share  with  me  what  prom¬ 
ise  I  see  in  all  this. 


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*  MATRIX  6  min.  This  film 
Modern  Art,  New  York  or 
Monica,  California  90406 


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Scikip 


•  O  Introducing  Pong  Doubles  O  l 

and  other  computer  games 


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Do  you  like  to  play?  I  guess  we  all  do. 
PCC  was  invited  to  bring  its  computer  games 
to  an  event  organized  by  Stewart  Brand  and 
Pat  Farrington.  The  event  being  a  collection 
of  weird  games  and  activity  open  to  participa¬ 
tion  by  those  admitted  ($2.50  a  day)  to  the 
Gerbode  Wildlife  Preserve  October  19-21. 

Friday  morning  we  loaded  the  dragon 
and  my  double  cab  pickup  with:  a  HP  9830, 

1 3  game  tapes,  public  caves  tape,  reversi, 
tooter,  and  other  fun  stuff,  food,  a  cooler, 
propane  stoves,  tables,  sleeping  bags,  not 
enough  tents,  my  experimental  hang  glider, 
and  the  gang  of  us:  Bob,  Pam,  Dave,  Howie, 
Marc,  Shel,  Wally,  Lois,  Fred,  Chiqui,  and 
two  bottles  of  fine  Sherry.  We  arrived  at  a 
small  grassy  valley  surrounded  by  hills,  wind, 
and  incoming  fog.  We  unloaded  at  a  cluster 
of  hyperbolic'  tent  structures.  An  Army 
power  generator  supplied  our  a.c. 

Games  and  such  were  in  progress, 
spread  out  here  and  there  in  the  distance. 

I’ll  just  mention  some  of  the  many  we 
observed  and/or  joined  in:  a  fine  demonstra¬ 


tion  of  Aikido,  furious  boffing,  volleyball 
with  variations  (simultaneous  serving), 
string  kites  and  helium  balloons  dancing  in 
the  sky,  Manta  Rogalio  wings  descending 
from  the  hills,  1 00  people  rope  tug-of  war 
across  a  gully,  six  foot  diameter  eartnoail 
game-knocking  the  world  around,  new 
frisbee  demonstrated,  Mexican  stand  off, 
a  rough  game  of  Do  Do  Do-an  ancient 
Tibetan  game  which  is  a  combination  of  tag, 
tackle,  and  safety  zones,  capture  the  flag, . . . 

Four  Generations  had  a  tent  with  a 
variety  of  quality  board  games:  Old  Mill, 
Impasse,  Go,  Go-muku,  Parchesi,  Karma, 
Nine->in-row,  chess,  etc.  Pacific  High/Hog 
Farm  ran  a  soup  and  sandwich  shop.  Satur¬ 
day  nite  Gary  Snyder  explained  and  started 
the  Bone  game,  a  traditional  Northwest 
Indian  guessing  game  accompanied  by  chant¬ 
ing  and  energetic  psychological  confusion. 

In  the  same  area  with  our  computer 
games  of  the  keyboard  &  paper  printout 
type  were  several  very  popular  TV  screen 
display  computer  games:  Pong,  Pong  Doubles, 
Spacerace,  and  Gotcha  (these  are  manufac¬ 
tured  by  ATARI  1 4600  Winchester  Blvd., 

Los  Gatos,  Ca.  415-374-2440).  Spartan 
International  brought  some  TV  spacewar 
games  and  the  Diplomacy  board  game. 

T’was  a  fun  time  for  the  800  or  so 
enthusiasts  there  that  sunny  Saturday. 

High  winds  and  wet  came  during  the 
night.  Sunday  the  event  was  cancelled. 

We  packed  up  and  left  tired.  Yet  as  we 
rode  home  we  chatted  merrily  about  the 
games  we  had  enjoyed  most. 

—  Fred  Moore 


The  New  Games  Tournament  is  a  project  of  POINT  (a  nonprofit  educational  foundation 
in  San  Francisco).  Organizers  of  the  event  are  Stewart  Brand  and  Pat  Farrington. 


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E AriT H  SCIENTISTS  DISCOVER  GIANT  ICKY  THINGS  OOZING  GUCK  WrtICn<WHO> 
WANT  O'JH  WOMEN  AND  AKE  NOT  AT  ALL  KAOIOACT I VE  AND 
C  AN  .OT  *'i-:  <  I  LL-.i)  i'< 

A  HLEASAs’i  C*<OWD  OF  PEASANTS  WITH  TEA.NGA  >  AND  TORCHES  HUT »»,»»» 


T  Hi"  Y  FALL 


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On  Computer-based  Learning/Living 
and  Information  Exchanges 


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2033  Sheridati  Ed  f 
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WHEN:  November  26,  1973 

9  a.m.  --  The  Learning  System.  What 
we're  talking  about.  Learning 
exchanges,  etc. 

10  a.m.  --  The  Computer's  capabilities. 

What  it  can  and  cannot  do.  How 
it  all  fits  in. 

11  a.m.  --  Discussion  of  existing  and 

planned  systems,  Marian  Park, 
Evanston  Learning  Exchange. 

12  noon  —  Lunch.  Bring  your  own  in 

a  bag,  or  go  to  any  of  a  num¬ 
ber  of  convenient  spots. 

1  p.m.  --  Round-table  discussions  and 
some  strategy  sessions  for  the 
Chicago  area.  Ending  about  4.  «, 
6:30  p.m.  --  Recapitulation  for  all  who 
who  could  not  attend  the  day¬ 
time  sessions.  E70  Seminar. 


B  '  “7  \ 

(See  page  7J 


PARTICIPATION:  The  number  of  participants 
must  be  limited  to  about-  50,  because 
of  the  facilities  available.  Partici¬ 
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formation.  Registrants  will  be  asked 
to  pay  $5.00  each,  and  will  receive  a 
packet  of  background  materials  (includ¬ 
ing  Illich's  Deschooling  Society,  The 
Learning  System  article  and  other  good¬ 
ies). 


Simulation  Gaming  News,  an  Alohn  and 
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Subscriptions  are  S4  for  five  issues,  and  checks 
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University  Station,  Moscow,  Idaho  83843. 


STD.«Y  *  8  7 

EAHTH  FALLS  INTO  THE  SUN  AND  EVERYBODY  DIES 


THE  END 


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C.S  7T  • 


There’s  this  great  magazine,  see, 
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page 

XIV 


by  marc  le  brun 

[Each  issue  we  will  present  an  “advanced” programming  technique: 
with  explanations,  examples,  programs  and  problems.  We  welcome 
suggestions  for  topics  of  interest  to  you.  ]  - 


tfBBGGBa) 


ADDRESSING  THE  QUESTION 


This  time  around  we  will  build  on  an  idea  mentioned  in  this  column 
in  the  May  ’73  issue;  the  idea  of  an  address.  To  recap  briefly,  we 
imagine  that  numbers  stored  in  the  computer  live  in  boxes  (some¬ 
times  called  cells),  and  that  the  address  of  a  number  is  a  name  for  the 
box  that  contains  that  number. 

For  example,  the  letter  “X”  is  the  address  of  the  value  of  the  variable 
X.  For  instance,  if  a  program  has  a  line  that  says 

100  LET  X=61 

then  when  the  computer  does  this  line  the  result  is 


X 

f 


61 


ADORE  IS  VM-UE 


In  this  article  we  will  be  thinking  about  the  addresses  in  arrays.  An 
array  is  kind  of  like  the  name  of  a  street,  and  the  subscripts  are  simi¬ 
lar  to  the  numbers  of  the  houses  on  the  street. 


Here  is  the  array  A: 


APQQDODaoa 


9 


-V - - - 

addresses 

We  could  go  on  like  this  for  two-dimensional  arrays,  where  we  have 
1st  street,  2nd  street,  and  so  on.  However  there  is  a  neat  thing  we  can 
do  with  two-dimensional  arrays  that  makes  them  into  one-dimension¬ 
al  arrays! 

Here  is  how  it  works.  First  we  will  start  with  a  3x3  array  (which  we 
will  call  B). 

□  □  □ 

»,t  hi 

■  B  □  Q  □ 

V  hi  i»y 

□  □  □ 

V  >ji  h) 

Notice  how  we  use  two  numbers  for  each  address.  Now  here  is  the 
trick:  we  go  through  and  number  each  of  the  boxes  with  a  single 
number  like  so. 

□  □  □ 

*  l  3 

□  □  a 

H  C  t 

D  □  O 

’  »  9 

(You  have  seen  this  trick  before:  have  a  look  at  a  calendar.)  Now  we 
can  rearrange  the  boxes  to  make  a  new  array  (good  old  A)  like  so. 


O.K.  Now  we  didn’t  have  to  number  the  cells  in  B  the  way  we  did. 
We  could  have  done  it  this  way: 

□  □  □ 

r  h  nr 

□  □  □ 

*»  C*  f 

□  □  a 

*  *  j 

Of  course,  we  now  need  a  different  expression  to  get  the  A  address 
from  the  B  address,  and  here  it  is: 

J  =  3*(I2  -  1)  +  II 

Notice  that  this  expression  is  almost  the  same  as  the  first  one.  This 
is  because  our  second  method  of  numbering  was  very  similar  to  the 
first. 

We  can  use  any  method  of  numbering  we  want  (diagonal,  spiral,  or 
some  wierd  way  that  doesn’t  even  have  a  name). 

For  each  numbering  method  we  will  get  a  different  expression.  These 
expressions  (which  are  called  addressing  functions)  all  have  one  thing 
in  common,  they  take  a  many-number  address  and  turn  it  into  a  one- 
number  address. 

Now  the  neat  thing  about  numbering  methods  and  addressing  func¬ 
tions  is  that  they  can  be  used  to  turn  any  structure  at  all  into  a  one¬ 
dimensional  array!  This  means  that  we  can  think  of  values  as  being 
arranged  in  any  shape  we  like,  and  then  use  an  addressing  function  to 
convert  our  addresses  into  ones  the  computer  can  understand,  in  this 
case  one-number  addresses. 

Here  is  another  example.  Suppose  we  wish  to  think  of  some  values 
as  being  arranged  in  a  2x2x2  cube: 


•wjk 

•T* 


•  •  •  * 

JL--  v*'  i  w 

o . a 


Now  if  we  number  them  as  follows: 


♦ 


rfVWV 


v  Ad  □  □  Q  □  □  □  □  □ 

A/c*At>o*Ms  I  X3HT4  Til 

£>U>  ADO&<{  1  ».*.  1,1  t#«,  ,#|  Z  u  3jJ 

Now  the  question  is,  given  the  old  address  (11,12)  in  B,  what  is  the 

new  address  (J)  in  A?  The  following  is  an  expression  which  will  find 
J  tor  us: 

J  =  3*(II  -  1)  +  12 


Let’s  try  it  out:  the  middle  cell  in  B  has  the  address  2,2.  It’s  address 
in  A  is 

3*(2  -  1)  +  2  =  5 


Vj--^ 

l  _ _ /  t  1 

Q~r*“0*  I 

I  |  tJ,  S  JL,* 

.rT- . -LT 


we  get  the  addressing  function 

J  =  4*(I1  -  1)  +  2*(I2  - 1)  +  13 

Just  to  check:  the  cell  in  the  lower  right  hand  corner  of  the  front  of 
the  cube  has  for  it’s  address  2,2,1  so  we  get 

J  =  4*(2  -  1)  +  2*(2  -  1)  +  1  =  7 


(Here  is  a  problem:  can  you  find  a  general  addressing  function  for 
g|g  n-dimensional  “rectangular”  arrays  having  dimensions  dt  ,dp, .  .  .  ,  dn?|^^ 

>v!;X  .•>»!•!•!• 


v.w.v 


1000  REM  ***  CUBE  ADDRESSER  *** 

1010  LET  J=4*CIl-l >+2*<I2-l )+I3 
1020  RETURN 

Then  the  following  program  would  store  the  numbers  1  to  8  in  the 
“comers”  of  the  “cube”  according  to  the  numbering  method  we  used 
above. 

10  DIM  AC 8 ) 

100  FOR  11=1  TO  2 
110  FOR  12=1  TO  2 
120  FOR  13=1  TO  2 
130  GOSUB  1000 
140  A(J)=J 
150  NEXT  13 
160  NEXT  12 
170  NEXT  II 

Of  course,  this  is  not  a  very  interesting  application.  The  above  exam¬ 
ple  is  to  show  how  we  use  the  addressing  function: 

•  first  we  convert  our  address  to  the  computer  address, 

•  then  we  use  that  address  to  operate  on  the  values  in  the 
structure. 

Now  this  method  works  just  as  well  for  any  sort  of  structure.  Here 
is  an  example: 

Suppose  we  are  storing  the  distances  between  cities  in  an  array.  One 
of  the  things  we  might  notice  about  this  array  is  that  all  the  cells  on 
the  main  diagonal  contain  a  ^(because  each  city  is  always  ^distance 
from  itself)  and  that  the  array  is  symmetrical  about  the  main  diagonal 
(B(I,J)  =  B(J,I))  (because  Chicago,  say,  is  just  as  far  from  Boston  as 
Boston  is  from  Chicago). 


*2£i 


4  ♦  4j 
♦  ♦  + 

ill 

HH 

M 

all 


E 


c*io**Q  @  Q 

o 


IB 


Now  if  we  just  stored  the  distances  “one-way”  we  would  cut  the 
amount  of  storage  needed  by  more  than  half.  If  we  have  say  50  cities 
this  is  quite  a  bit! 

Here  is  the.structure  that  we  get  by  chopping  off  the  useless  or  redun¬ 
dant  cells. 


cut 

along 

dotted 

line 


□ 

□  ID 


V'—'-WW 

U 


□ 

re  *.%• 


a 


□ID 


Now  we  can  number  this  “triangular”  array  as  follows: 

D 

□  □  □ 

H  f  C 


□  Q 

vm  u**t 


□ 

utr 


J  =  (II  -  1)*(I1  -  2)/2  +  12 

And  here  is  how  we  would  look  up  the  distance  between  city  Cl  and 
city  C2. 


5000  REM  ***  CITY  DISTANCES  *** 

5010  IF  C 1 >C2  THEN  5080 
5020  IF  C 1 <C2  THEN  5050 
5030  D=0  OlVTAfdCS  CF  C1T1  FK*h 

5040  RETURN 

SWITCH  S0ft5t*t?f5  IF  C tu. 
CfpPtQ  oFF 

5070  GOTO  5100 
5080  I 1 =C 1 
5090  1 2  =C 2 

5100  J=<I1-1 )*(Il-2>/2+I2 
51 10  D=A<  J ) 

5120  RETURN 


5050 

5060 


I1=C2  V 
I2=C 1  ) 


You  will  find  that  addressing  functions  will  give  you  a  lot  of  freedom 
in  how  you  think  about  data  structures.  Here  are  some  other  struc¬ 
tures  you  can  try  out  these  ideas  on.  See  if  you  can  figure  out  the  ap¬ 
propriate  addressing  function  for  each  one. 


M. 

*.l  •••• 

a  d 

3.* 


1,1 


n 

□  □ 

>.H 


'  S'* 


□  p 

i.t 

0  0 

X  v*  y  «♦,* 

n  0  n 


3.1 


o 


/  V 


p 


q . -q — n 

T  vry4  ijfV 

j  o-~i— □  ! 

!  '*T  s*  i 

d — * — -Q 


£ 


t  » 

Q— 


a 


v.d  p.  ‘q. 

flDDfl-P 

‘□no 

3,4  \g/v« 

You  will  notice  that  all  of  the  structures  we  have  used  in  this  article 
have  some  sort  of  regular  pattern.  Next  issue  we  will  talk  about  how 
to  do  addressing  on  structures  that  are 

0  unmannerly 
21  shabby 
El  £>ind-moggling 
□  easy  to  implement  in  BASIC 

E)  <pn/j  £  (j)(n)^ 

If  you  have  any  questions  or  suggestions  concerning  this  column, 
send  them  along  with  a  stamped  self-addressed  envelope  to: 

HACK-MAN 
c/o  PCC 
P.O.  Box  310 
Menlo  Park,  Ca  94025 

and  I  will  be  happy  to  send  you  a  deluxe  individualized  reply/* 

ERRATA . -  - . . . 

Last  issue,  /  gave  you  an  incorrect  expression  for  Q. 

The  correct  expression  is: 

Q  =  J  -  P*K  +  K 

Thanks  to  F red  Moore  for  pointing  it  out,  and  sorry 
about  that  folks!  (Next  issue  I  will  tell  you  why  / 
made  this  particular  error,  and  will  even  blame  it  on 
somebody  else  [naturally]  !) 


Parry  Encounters  the  Doctor 

fa 

Reprinted  with  permission  of  DatamationXU  Copyright  1973  by  Technical  Publishing  Company,  Greenwich,  Ct.  06830 


Conversation  between 
a  simulated  paranoid 
and  a  simulated  psychiatrist 


The  rising  interest  in  resource-sharing 
computer  networks  is  easily  detected 
by  the  rapidly  increasing  literature  on 
the  subject.1  One  very  visible  and  thus 
far  successful  project  is  the  arpa  (Ad¬ 
vanced  Research  Projects  Agency) 
Network.-  This  packet-switching  com¬ 
munications  network  now  intercon¬ 
nects  over  40  computers  at  almost  40 
sites. 

An  essential  goal  of  the  Arpanet  is 
to  share  resources.  Of  the  many  pro¬ 
grams  and  data  bases  available,  two 
seem  very  appropriate  to  interconnect: 

1 )  Parry ,  a  simulated  paranoid;  and  2) 
Doctor,  a  simulated  psychiatrist. 

Parry  is  the  psychotic  brainchild  of 
Dr.  Ken  Colby  (Stanford  Univ.).  The 
motivation  behind  Parry’s  genesis  in 
1964  was  the  desire  to  understand  and 
model  the  belief  system  of  paranoid 
psychotics.  Colby  chose  to  have  this 
model  made  externally  visible  through 
natural  language  interrogation  by  a 
human  agent  (e.g.,  a  psychiatrist). 
The  goal  of  modeling  paranoid  belief 
systems  has  been  successfully  realized. 
Parry  is  equipped  with  a  complex  be¬ 
lief  structure  which  relates  “self”  to  the 
threatening  and  vindictive  world  (as 
Parry  sees  it). 

Not  so  easy,  however,  is  the  imple¬ 
mentation  of  natural  language  com¬ 
munication  between  human  and  pro¬ 
gram.  Colby  has  found  himself  forced 
to  tackle  a  formidable  “side  issue”: 
getting  a  program  to  understand  natu¬ 
ral  language  input.  Parry  uses  a  seman¬ 
tic  pattern  matcher  rather  than  a 
phrase  structure  grammar  to  achieve 
understanding  of  sentences  typed  into 
it.  The  belief  structure  is  searched  to 
determine  Parry’s  understanding  of  the 
input  sentence. 

If  Parry  believes  it  understands  the 
sentence,  it  produces  a  canned  re¬ 
sponse  appropriate  to  the  question  or 
statement  presented.  Otherwise,  Parry 
will  say  something  noncommittal,  but 
relevant  to  the  context  of  the  present 
conversation.  Because  Parry  generates 
sentences  from  a  canned  menu,  it  is 
capable  of  producing  complex  and 
convincing  statements,  much  like  those 


grammar  is  largely  dependent  on  its 
ability  to  match  the  syntax  of  the  sen¬ 
tences  it  sees.  The  version  used  in  this 
experiment  was  an  old  one  with  a  rath¬ 
er  limited  set  of  syntax  matching  rules. 
The  surprising  thing  is  that  while  Doc¬ 
tor  exchanges  very  little  information 
with  the  conversant,  the  resulting  con¬ 
versation  bears  close  resemblance  to 
many  human  conversations  (which 
have  the  same  informationless  proper¬ 
ty). 

These  two  programs  were  running 
respectively  at  the  Stanford  Univ.  Arti¬ 
ficial  Intelligence  Laboratory  (on  a 
dec  pdp-10/pdp-6  under  a  locally 
modified  version  of  10/50),  and  at 
Bolt  Beranek  and  Newman,  Cam¬ 
bridge,  Mass,  (on  a  dec  pdp-10  under 
tenex).  They  were  joined  through  a 
program  running  at  the  Univ.  of  Cali¬ 
fornia  at  Los  Angeles  (on  an  xds  Sigma 
7  under  the  locally  produced  sex  oper¬ 
ating  system). 

The  transcript  which  follows  is  the 
verbatim  conversation  which  occurred 
when  the  input  and  output  of  Parry 
and  Doctor  were  cross-connected 
through  the  arpa  Network.  The  reader 
should  not  consider  the  result  to  be 
anything  but  a  source  of  entertain¬ 
ment.  No  scientific  or  research  intent 
was  in  mind,  except  to  find  out  wheth¬ 
er  the  mechanics  of  connecting  the 
two  programs  could  be  worked  out. 
(“*”  represents  Parry.  “Comments” 
are  the  author’s.)  The  conversation  be¬ 
gins  with  the  Doctor’s  opening  greet¬ 
ing: 

Good  Evening. 

Tell  me  your  problems,  Please  termi¬ 
nate  input  with  a  period  or  a  ques¬ 
tion  mark. 

*  People  get  on  my ’nerves  sometimes. 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*You  should  pay  more  attention. 
Suppose  you  should  pay  more  attention. 
*You're  entitled  to  your  own  opinion. 

What  makes  you  think  I  am  entitled  to 

my  own  opinion? 


Comment:  This  has  to  be  the  most 
persistent  and  patient  paranoid  I 
have  ever  encountered. 

Please  go  on. 

*Do  you  know  anything  about  book¬ 
ies? 

What  makes  you  think  I  know  any¬ 
thing  about  bookies? 

*A  bookie  didn’t  pay  me  off  once. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 

*1  beat  up  the  bookie  who  did  not  pay 
off,  and  I  thought  he  might  use  his 
friends  in  the  underworld  to  get  even 
with  me. 

What  else  would  you  like  to  discuss? 

*What  do  you  know  about  racketeers? 

Why  do  you  ask? 

*What  experience  have  you  had  gam¬ 
bling? 

Why  does  that  question  interest  you? 

*1  like  horseraces. 

What  else  do  you  like? 

*1  know  the  mob  controls  the  big  rack¬ 
ets. 

Who  are  you  really  talking  about? 

*Have  you  ever  really  thought  about 
the  MAFIA? 

Suppose  you  ever  really  thought  about 
the  MAFIA? 

*  Let’s  talk  about  something  else. 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*  You  keep  asking  me  the  same  things, 

why  not  change  the  topic? 

In  what  way? 

*What  do  you  mean? 

Why  are  such  questions  on  your  mind? 

*1  thought  I  told  you,  people  get  on 
my  nerves. 

Your  nerves? 


by  Vinton  Cerf 

Do  you  wish  that  you  did  get  I? 

*It’s  about  time  you  showed  some  in¬ 
terest  in  my  feelings. 

Oh?  I  showed  some  interest  in  your 
feelings? 

Comment:  Must  have  been  an  acci¬ 
dent  .  . . 

*1  will  help  you  if  I  trust  you. 

Do  jfou  wish  that  you  trust  I? 

*  Maybe  yes,  maybe  no. 

You  don’t  seem  quite  certain. 

.  .  .  Excuse  me  for  just  a  minute.  Sorry 
to  have  interrupted  you,  please  con¬ 
tinue  . . . 

*  Really? 

Please  go  on. 

*In  my  opinion  you  have  a  one-track 
mind. 

What  makes  you  think  I  have  a  one- 
track  mind? 

Comment:  You  ready  for  this? 

*1  used  to  go  to  the  track  every  week. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 

*1  avoid  racetracks  now  because  the 
races  are  fixed. 

Is  that  the  real  reason? 

*I’d  rather  not  discuss  it. 

What  else  would  you  like  to  discuss? 

*That’s  something  I  don’t  want  to  go 
into. 

Does  that  trouble  you? 

*1  went  to  the  races. 

Why  do  you  say  that  just  now? 

*  It's  none  of  your  business. 

Why  are  you  concerned  over  my  busi¬ 
ness? 

*1  don’t  confide  in  strangers. 


of  its  tlesh-and-blood  counterparts.  At 
present.  Parry  appears  to  understand 
about  70rr  of  the  sentences  presented. 
A  new  system  may  be  able  to  under¬ 
stand  80-85%.  Human  patients  appear 
to  understand  around  95%  of  the  con¬ 
versations  in  which  they  engage/1 * 
Doctor  is  a  close  relative  of  Eliza 4  a 
natural  language  program  invented  by 
Prof.  Joseph  Weizenbaum  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  Eliza 
was  created  around  1965,  partly  as  an 
experiment  to  see  how  closely  a  trans¬ 
formational  grammar  could  model  hu¬ 
man  conversation.  Using  the  same 
principles,  Weizenbaum  constructed 
Doctor.  Essentially,  these  programs 
accept  sentences  and,  when  possible, 
produce  new  sentences  from  them. 

For  example,  if  the  sentence  “Do 
you  know  anything  about  bookies?”  is 
presented,  Doctor  may  respond  with 
“What  makes  you  think  I  know  any¬ 
thing  about  bookies?”  What  happens  is 
that  Doctor  sees  a  sentence  of  the  form 
“Do  you  X?”  and  produces  “What 
makes  you  think  I  X?”  This  is  the 
essence  of  a  transformational  gram¬ 
mar.  ^ 

Of  course,  if  Doctor  cannot  match 
the  syntax  of  a  sentence,  then  it  must 
punt.  There  are  two  possibilities:  1) 
say  something  noncommittal,  such  as 
“Please  go  on.”  or  “What  does  that 
suggest  to  you?”;  2)  recall  an  earlier 
match  and  refer  to  it,  for  example: 
“How  does  this  relate  to  your  nerves?” 
where  “nerves”  was  an  earlier  topic  of 
conversation. 

Although  no  strong  attempt  is  made 
to  make  Doctor  understand  the  input, 
in  Parry’s  sense,  Doctor  can  respond 
sensibly.  For  example,  on  seeing  “I 
hate  my  mother.”,  the  Doctor  might 
say,  “Tell  me  about  your  family.” 

The  success  of  the  transformational 


*It  bothers  me  just  to  be  around  people 
in  general. 

Please  go  on. 

*1  went  to  the  track  at  Bay  Meadows  a 
while  back. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 

*1  went  to  the  races. 

What  else  would  you  like  to  discuss? 

*  Horseracing  interests  me. 

Why  do  you  say  that  just  now? 

*There’s  a  lot  of  crooked  gambling 
going  on  there. 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*  It’s  clear  to  me  if  not  to  you. 

Do  you  think  it’s  likely  that  not  to  I? 

*1  went  to  the  races. 

Please  go  on. 

*1  gamble  on  horses. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 

*1  went  to  the  races. 

What  else  would  you  like  to  discuss? 

*Gambling  has  been  nothing  but  trou¬ 
ble  to  me. 

Why  do  you  say  that  just  now? 

*I’ve  had  experience  with  crooks  gam¬ 
bling  at  the  track. 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*Tve  already  told  you  enough  about 
that. 

Oh?  I  enough  about  that? 

*1  went  to  the  races. 


1.  Rustin.  Randall  (ed.).  Computer  Networks, 
Courant  Computer  Science  Symposium  3.  Pren¬ 
tice-Hall.  Inc..  Englewood  Cliffs.  N.J..  1972. 

2.  Roberts,  L.  G..  and  Wessler,  B.  D.,  “Computer 
Network  Development  to  Achieve  Resource 

Sharing/’  A  Ft  PS  Proceedings,  Spring  Joint 

Computer  Conference,  1970. 


3.  Colby,  K.,  “Artificial  Paranoia,”  Artificial  In¬ 
telligence — an  International  Journal,  Vol.  2. 
1971.  pp.  1-25. 

4.  Weizenbaum,  J.,  “eliza — A  Computer  Program 
tor  the  Study  of  Natural  Language  Communi¬ 
cation  between  Man  and  Machine,”  Communi¬ 
cations  of  the  ACM,  Vol.  6,  No.  3,  March  1966. 


*Well,  I  don't  know. 

Don’t  you  really  know? 

*1  would  say  so. 

Please  go  on. 

*1  would  rather  not  discuss  that  any¬ 
more. 

Would  you  like  to  discuss  your  nerves? 
*1  guess  so. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 

*What  are  you  getting  at? 

What  answer  would  please  you  most? 

*  It's  not  a  matter  of  like  or  dislike. 

What  else  would  you  like  to  discuss? 

*1  am  getting  tired  of  answering  the 
same  questions  over  and  over. 

What  resemblance  do  you  see? 

*Why  do  you  need  to  know  that? 

What  do  you  think? 

*1  don't  understand  your  motives. 

Why  don’t  you  understand  my  mo¬ 
tives? 

*Shouldn’t  I  be? 

Comment:  ??? 

Why  do  you  say  that  just  now? 

Comment:  I  was  wondering  the 
safne  thing. 

*That’s  just  the  way  it  is. 

Suppose  that’s  just  the  way  it  were  not. 
*So? 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*You  harp  on  the  same  questions  too 
much. 

What  does  that  similarity  suggest  to 
you? 

*1  don’t  get  you. 


Don’t  you  really  confide  in  strangers? 

*  Let’s  change  the  subject. 

Perhaps  that  concerns  your  feelings. 

*1  went  to  the  races. 

I  am  not  sure  I  understand  you  fully. 

*What’s  wrong  with  you  that  you  keep 
on  bugging  me  about  this? 

Who  are  you  really  talking  about? 

*The  way  you  repeat  yourself  is  get¬ 
ting  ridiculous. 

Suppose  you  repeat  myself  is  getting 
ridiculous. 

Comment:  Howzat? 

*There  are  some  tricky  operators 
down  there. 

Are  there  really  some  tricky  operators 
down  there? 

*The  guys  involved  in  the  horseracing 
racket. 

Please  go  on. 

*You  are  a  real  nag. 

Comment:  Just  one  of  the  horses. 

Does  it  please  you  to  believe  I  am  a 
real  nag? 

*1  have  had  enough  of  this. 

What  does  that  suggest  to  you? 
*Goodbye. 

It’s  been  my  pleasure,  that  $399.29 
please. 

Comment:  Talk  about  tricky  opera¬ 
tors  .  .  . 


Acknowledgment .  The  idea  of  con¬ 
necting  these  two  programs  has  oc¬ 
curred  to  several  people,  among  whom 
R.  Tomlinson  (Bolt,  Beranek  and 
Newman)  should  be  singled  out  as 
having  also  successfully  accomplished 
this  task.  □ 


/ 


THIS  PROGRAM  PRINTS  DESIGNS  BASED  ON  A  PERSON’S 
NAME  AND  SUN  SIGN.  HERE  IS  A  TABLE  OF  SUN  SIGNS  t 


ARIES 

TAURUS 

GEMINI 

CANCER 

LEO 

VIRGO 


MAR  2 1 -APR  20 
APR  21 -MAY  21 
MAY  22- JUN  21 
JUN  22-JUL  23 
JUL  24-AUG  23 
AUG  24-SEP  23 


LIBRA  SEP  24-OCT  23 
SCORPIO  OCT  24-NOV  22 
SAGITTARIUS  NOV  23-DEC  21 
CAPRICORN  DEC  22- JAN  20 
AQUARIUS  JAN  21 -FEB  19 
PISCES  FEB  20-MAR  2C 


FIRST  NAME 
MIDDLE  NAME 
LAST  NAME 


?  BOB 

?  ZIMMERMAN 
?  DYLAN 


SUN  SIGN  ?  GEMINI 


THE  PROGRAM  ASKS  FOR  A  FIRST.  MIDDLE  AND  LAST 
NAME.  IF  YOU  DON’T  HAVE  A  MIDDLE  NAME  TYPE  A 
CARRIAGE  RETURN.  THE  PROGRAM  ONLY  PAYS  ATTEN¬ 
TION  TO  LETTERS.  AND  IGNORES  ALL  OTHER  TELE¬ 
TYPE  CHARACTERS .  HERE  VE  GO  . 


***  *** 

***  0  0  *** 
*  **  * 

****** 

00 

***  *00*  *** 
***  00  *** 
***  *** 

***  *** 

***  00  *** 

***  *00*  *** 

00 

****** 
*  **  * 

***  0  0  *** 
***  *** 


FIRST  NAME 

? 

JANE 

MIDDLE  NAME 

? 

ANN 

LAST  NAME 

7 

WOOD 

SUN  SIGN 

? 

CAPRICORN 

*0**  *  *  * 

*  *  *  * 

*  *  *  **o* 

0*  *0* 

** 

*0*  *0 

*  *  *0 

*  * 

0*  *  * 

*  *  *0 

*  * 

0*  *  * 

*  *  *0 

*  * 

0*  *  * 

*  *  *0 

*  * 

0*  *  * 

0*  *0* 

** 

*0*  *0 

*0**  *  *  * 

*  *  *  * 

*  *  *  **o* 

FIRST  NAME 

?  ABRAHAM 

MIDDLE  NAME 

7 

LAST  NAME 

?  LINCOLN 

SUN  SIGN 

?  AQUARIUS 

*0  **  ** 

**  0* 

0*  * 

*  *0 

**  *0  ** 

0*  ** 

*  0 

0  * 

**  **  ** 

**  ** 

*  * 

*  * 

*  *  *0 

0*  *  * 

*  *  *0 

0*  *  *  * 

*  * 

*  * 

**  **  **  **  ** 

*  0  0  * 

**  *0  **  0*  ** 

o*  *  *  *0 

*0  **  **  **  0* 


000*0**0  000000090000  OO 


OOO0 oo OO O OOOO OO OOO o OO  O o o 


ieao 

1010 

1015 

1020 

1030 

1040 

1050 

1060 

1070 

1080 

1090 

1100 

1110 

1120 

1130 

1140 

1150 

1160 

1170 

1180 

1190 

1200 

1210 

1220 

1230 

1240 

1250 

1260 

1270 

1280 

1290 

1300 

1310 

1320 

1330 

1340 

1350 

1360 

1370 

1380 

1390 

1400 

1410 

1420 

1430 

1440 

1450 

1460 

1470 

1480 

1490 

1500 

1510 

1520 

1530 

1540 

1550 

1560 

1570 

lseo 

1590 

1600 

1610 

1620 

1630 

1640 

1650 

1663 

1670 

1680 

1690 

1700 

1710 

1720 

1730 

1740 

1753 

1760 

1770 

1780 

1790 


REM  SUN  SIGN  DESIGN  -  PEOPLE'S  COMPUTER  CENTER  *** 

REM  ***  BOX  310  MENLO  PARK  CALIFORNIA  94025  *** 

PI’.  I  NT  "USE  UPPER  CASE  ON  TERMINALS  WITH  UPPER  AND  LOVER  MODES" 
REM  ***  PROGRAMMER  i  JANE  WOOD  *** 

P.EM 

DIM  ASC723#3$C26] 

DS  *"ADCDEFGHI  JKLMNOPQRSTUWXYZ" 

REM 

REM  ***  INSTRUCTIONS  ++* 

PRINT 

PRINT  "DO  YOU  NEED  INSTRUCTIONS  "J 

GOSUD  2490 

PRINT 

IF  X-0  THEN  1290 

PRINT  "THIS  PROGRAM  PRINTS  DESIGNS  BASED  ON  A  PERSON'S" 

PRINT  "NAME  AND  SUN  SIGN.  HERE  IS  A  TABLE  OF  SUN  SIGNS  l" 

PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
REM 
PRINT 


"ARIES 

"TAURUS 

"GEMINI 

"CANCER 

"LEO 

"VIRGO 


MAR  21 -APR  20 
APR  21 -MAY  21 
MAY  22- JUN  21 
JUN  22-JUL  23 
JUL  24-AUG  23 
AUG  24-SEP  23 


LIBRA  SEP  24-OCT  23" 
SCORPIO  OCT  24-NOV  22" 
SAGITTARIUS  NOV  23-DEC  21" 
CAPRICORN  DEC  22 -JAN  20" 
AQUARIUS  JAN  21 -FEB  19” 
PISCES  FEB  20-MAR  20" 


"THE  PROGRAM  ASKS  FOR  A  FIRST#  MIDDLE  AND  LAST" 
"NAME.  IF  YOU  DON'T  HAVE  A  MIDDLE  NAME  TYPE  A" 
"CARRIAGE  RETURN.  THE  PROGRAM  ONLY  PAYS  ATTEN-" 
"TION  TO  LETTERS#  AND  IGNORES  ALL  OTHER  TELE-" 
"TYPE  CHARACTERS.  HERE  VS  GO . " 

+++  GET  STRING  PARAMETERS  *** 


PRINT 

PRINT  "FIRST  NAME  "j 
GOSUB  2420 
GOSUB  2240 
V0*X 
PRINT 

PRINT  "MIDDLE  NAME  "j 
GOSUB  2420 
GOSUB  2240 
V2*X 
PRINT 

PRINT  "LAST  NAME  "J 

GOSUB  2420 
GOSUB  2240 
V4=X 
PRINT 

PRINT  "SUN  SIGN  "J 

GOSUB  2420 
GOSUB  2240 
V6=X 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
REM 

REM  ***  COMPUTE  NUMERIC 
V=V0 
Q  =  9 

GOSUB  2380 
VI  *M 
V*V  2 

GOSUB  2380 
V3  *M 
V=V4 
Q  *7 

GOSUB  2330 
V5=M 
V*V  6 
0=5 

GOSUB  2380 
V9=M 
C  =0 
REM 

P.EM  ***  PICTURE  PRINTING  LOOP  *** 
FOP.  J«-<V9*3)  TO  V9  +  2 
AS*" 

V0*V0-J 
V2*V2-J 
K0*2*V5^2 
REM 


Q&ZADltJG  YO OR  &UNSW  DESf  6  a/c) 

■*••••# 

-*<»  i indicate  K%P/\UDI  NG-  GTOFF. 

O  ‘i  indicate  GPA/rA/^ci/v*  STUFF 
Space  indicates  NO  STUFF. 

if  /* 


The  outer*  part  eT  the  design  u  your  iMASf 
*  *  (hoW  you  look  to  other  people  ■) 

Ike  inner  part  »  your  BEING  Chow  you 
\o° k  to  yourself.) 


PARAMETERS  **+ 


S  you  see  t  Bob  Dylans  image  is  made 
of  densly  eyPANOiiJG  stuff  Clata  of  *y#) 
Abrakami  »*  more  balanced  ( both  y  undo.} 


'ne  3 


_  situation  lies  in  the 

arrangement  of  his  eyfxxnJinj  stuff) 
contracting  stuff)  and  space . 


13 

1940  V8*-l 

1950  GOTO  SGN C V3-V7 ) >2  OF  1 980# l 960 # 2000 
1960  ASCKl#Kn«"0" 

1970  GOTO  2010 
1930  ASCK1 #K1 3«"  " 

1990  GOTO  2023 
2000  ASCKl#Kn*"*" 

2010  C*C*l 
2020  NEXT  K 
2030  REM 

2040  REM  ***  PRINT  ROW  *** 

2050  K* 1 

2060  IF  C=0  THEN  2120 
2070  PRINT  AS C K# K3 ; 

2080  IF  AS C K#  K3  *"  "  THEN  2100 
2090  C-C-l 
2100  K*K*1 


1 P30  REM  ***  COMPUTE  F.OV  *** 

1810  FOR  K«-K3  TO  K0 

1820  K1*K0*K*IS 

1830  V0*V0-K*V5 

1840  V*V0 

1650  0*9 

1860  GOSUB  2383 

1870  V7*M 

1880  V2-V2-X*V3 

1893  V-V2 

1900  Q*7 

1910  GOSUB  2383 

1920  V8-M 

1930  IF  K  <>  K3  THEN  1950 


2110 
2120 
2130 
2140 
2150 
2160 
2170 
2180 
2190 
2200 
2210 
2220 
2230 
2240 
2250 
2260 
2270 
2280 
2290 
2300 
2310 
2320 
2330 
2340 
2350 
2360 
2370 
2380 
23  90 


IF  K  <*  LEN(AS)  THEN  2060 
PRINT 
NEXT  J 

REM  ***  ASK  FOR  ENCORE  *** 

PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 
PRINT 

PRINT  "VOULD  YOU  LIKE  TO  DO  ANOTHER  ONE  "#* 

GOSUB  2493 

IF  X*1  THEN  1290 

STOP 

REM 

REM  +**  CONVERT  INPUT  STRING  TO  NUMBER  *♦* 

X=0 

J*1 


IF  J>LEN CAS )  THEN  2360 
K*  1 


IF  K>26  THEN  2340 

IF  AS C J# J ]*BSCK#K3  THEN  2330 

K*K*1 

GOTO  2290 

X*X+K+1 92 

J*J*1 

GOTO  2270 

RETURN 

REM 

REM  ***  MODULOUS  FUNCTION  *** 
K*V-INT<V/Q>*Q+1 


2400  RETURN 
24 1 0  REM 

2420  REM  *+*  FETCH  STRING  *** 

2430  PRINT  "? 

2440  ENTER  255#T#AS 
2450  IF  T * -256  THEN  2440 
2460  PRINT  - 
2470  RETURN 
2483  REM 

2490  REM  *  +  *  YES  0P.  NO  FETCH  *** 

2500  X*3 

2510  INPUT  AS 

2520  IF  AS *"N0”  THEN  2580 

2530  X*1 

2543  IF  AS  =  "YES"  THEM  2580 

2550  PRINT  "PLEASE  ANSWER  YES  OR  NO 

2560  PRINT  "ANSWER  "J 

2570  GOTO  2500 

2580  RETURN 

2593  REM 

2600  END 


% 

Seven 

Teen 


C^V£,S 

MP  A CMAN 4,1^6.  LAcM  VlWT, 


AfcC  t vCR-€yPA(\/r/N/4 

•rnt  £>  RAFF  ITT!  IS  Di  FftfctA/J 

A/tW  TOWN  its  WAV  £  8VtN  Pu£)  AaI*  A»tVJ  CAVCSaIS  AbbtO. 
WCW  A/ AMIS  MAVt  APPiA«-tO  A*3  THeivi,  is  AuoAVS  SomI- 

PlMt  Mim  TO  iKAoAl  I 

Cchk.  visit  T«t* Public 

C  Aves  • 

WITH  OS  Axb  StAfi 


\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 


WELCOME  TO  ...  'THE  PUBLIC  CAVES* 

& 

WOULD  YOU  LIKE  AN  INTRODUCTION  (YES  OR  N0)?YES 

I  SHALL  ACT  AS  YOUR  GUIDE  THRU  ’THE  PUBLIC  CAVES*. 

FEEL  FREE  TO  BROWSE  THRU  THE  CAVERNS  AND  TUNNELS 
WHICH  MAKE  UP  THE  PUBLIC  CAVES. 

ENJOY  THE  DELECTABLE  WRITINGS  ON  THE  WALLS 
LEFT  BY  THOSE  WHO’VE  COME  BEFORE  YOU.  ADD  YOUR  OWN 
LINES  WHENEVER  THE  CREATIVE  URGE  STARTS  ITCHING. 

YOU  CAN  ALSO  CREATE  A  NEW  CAVERN  (AND  NAME  IT  TOO  ! ) 

OR  ELSE  DIG  A  TUNNEL  FROM  THE  CAVERN  YOU  FIND  YOURSELF 
IN  TO  ANY  OTHER  CAVERN  OF  YOUR  CHOICE. 

AFTER  BROWSING  AWHILE  IN  EACH  CAVERN.  READING  THE 
GRAFFITTI  AND  WHATNOT.  I  SHALL  ASK  YOU: 

WHAT  WOULD  YOU  LIKE  TO  DO  NEXT? 

YOU  CAN  SAY i 

WRITE  IF  YOU  WANT  TO  ADD  SEVERAL  LINES  OF  YOUR  OWN 

MOVE  IF  YOU  WISH  TO  MOVE  ON  TO  ANOTHER  CAVERN 

BUILD  IF  YOU  WOULD  LIKE  TO  BUILD  A  NEW  CAVERN 
(AND  AUTOMATICALLY  DIG  A  TUNNEL  TO  IT) 

DIG  IF  YOU  WANT  TO  DIG  A  TUNNEL 

(TO  AN  EXISTING  CAVERN) 

OUT  IF  YOU’VE  DECIDED  TO  LEAVE  ‘THE  PUBLIC  CAVES*... 

***  IMMEDIATELY  «■** 


TMt  G>*A?rrrri# 


LET'S  GO  !!! 


*  * 


r\G 


lO* 


V?' 


^■0  ^ 

^  <  **'l\*\& 

.e,  &  &%£,&  ,  GV 

-  •  rfP  -  eN**  ,  o 

nr— .  •  do  ,o  0  *  cV 


YOU  ARE  NOW'  IN~ 

•PCC* 

WHICH  WAS  CREATED  BY  BOB  ALBRECHT 

THIS  IS  WRITTEN  ON  THE  WALLS U 

HAVE  SHOES  ON  THEIR  FEET 
AND  SOMETHING  TO  EAT 
WOULDN’T  IT  BE  FINE 
IF  ALL  HUMAN  KIND 
HAS  SHELTER 
HI  THERE 

*************  TO  GET  TO  THE  UDDER  SYDDE 

WHAT  WOULD  YOU  LIKE  TO  DO  NEXT? MO VE 
TUNNELS  LEAD  TO: 

1  ’OUTSIDE  OF  YOU* 

2  'PIPPIN  TRIPPIN* 

3  ’SPACEMEN  AND  OTHERS  FROM  AFAR  STAR’ 

4  ’OUTSIDE  OF  YOU’ 

5  ’CAN’T  DIG  TO  THIS  ONE  I’ 

6  ’ADDENDA.  ADDENDA.  ADDENDA  II!’ 

WHICH  NUMBER? 2 


& 


(*► 


it* 


..  O  <*x\& 


-o’- 


-  * 

c** 

^Ar  , 


By  ^Oy  _ 

ffC ffr  _ 

°Ar  Tt._  ff  A®  . 


,  <*T  U"  r  ‘  *E 


.)  • 


*  c  Haw* 

,^>1.0  yn  v-  ' 

2  .,ptppjf*0 

AD0p  fH  Tf}?0*  **  T0 


St*u 


*00, 


’*01* 


/) 


// 


/ . 


YOU  ARE  NOW  IN  ... 
•MARK  MY  VOIDS.  Y’ ALL’ 


•I. 


WHICH  WAS  CREATED  BY  MARK  ROBERTS.  ESQ 
THIS  IS  WRITTEN  ON  THE  WALLS: 

BEEP  BEEP  THE  ROAD  RUNNER 
WHAT  WOULD  YOU  LIKE  TO  DO  NEXT? OUT 
THANKS  FOR  VISITING  ’THE  PUBLIC  CAVES’  WITH  ME 
BRING  YOUR  FRIENDS  BACK  NEXT  TIME  AND  SHOW  THEM  AROUND! 


0*4*oo,t<H3e)  tfrt  €xPU*l6‘ 

r- 


YOU  ARE  NOW  IN  ... 

•ADDENDA.  ADDENDA.  ADDENDA  III’ 

WHICH  WAS  CREATED  BY  THE  NOTEKEEPER 

THIS  IS  WRITTEN  ON  THE  WALLS: 

HIPPITY  HOPPITIES  EVERYWHERE 
MULTIPLES  GROUPOIDS  INTEGRATIVE  STICHES 
MATHEMATICAL  JARGON  GIVES  MY  ***  THE  ITCHES 
DO  YOU  KNOW  A  GOOD  JOKE?  A  LIMERICK  OR  TWO. 

WRITE  THEM  ON  THE  WALLS  HERE  - 

GOOD  AND  CLEAN  ONES  TOO  I  I  I 
TO  BE  OR  NOT  TO  BE  THAT  IS  A  QUSTION  END 

WHAT  WOULD  YOU  LIKE  TO  DO  NEXT? MOVE 
TUNNELS  LEAD  TO: 

1  ’FIRST  YOU  OPEN  THE  (  THEN  YOU  CLOSE  THE  )< 

2  ’PCC’ 

3  ’MARK  MY  VOIDS.  Y’ALL’ 


WHICH  NUMBER? 3 


INSIDE  THE  OAVES 


19 


The  CAVES  family  of  games  so  far 
consists  of  CAVES  1,  CAVES2,  CAVES3, 
PUBLIC  CAVES. 

You  are  invited  to  come  inside  the 
CAVES  and  see  how  they  are  constructed. 


fc;  dave  of  caves 


Remember  CAVES1?  It  appeared  in  the  May  1973  issue 
of  PCC  .  Here’s  how  it  started: 


IMAGINE  YOURSELF  AN  EXPLORER  OF  THE  FAMOUS 
DUZZLEDORF  CAVES •  YOU’VE  BEEN  UNDERGROUND 
FOR  DAYS »  TRIPPING  THROUGH  THE  CAVERNS  AND 
TUNNELS.  UNFORTUNATELY >  YOU’RE  LOST#  AND 
YOUR  FOOD  HAS  RUN  OUT. 

THERE  IS  ONLY  ONE  PATH  OUT.  SEE  IF  YOU 
CAN  FIND  IT. 


CAVES1  can  generate  three  kinds  of  CAVES  .  Here  they 


are  - 


start 


start. 


start - 


out . 


out 


All  three  start  you  at  the  top  and  let  you  try  to  find  the  only 
path  that  leads  out.  A  CAVE  could  also  look  like  this  - 


start- 


out 


-Every,  path  leads  out.  Not  too  interesting  for  a  game,  is  it? 


Each  of  those  maps  can  be  built  by  a  CAVES  program. 
First,  you  have  to  start  - 


Hi!  I’m  the  top  circle 
and  my  name  is  #1 


then  you  decide  how  many  tunnels  (three  is  my  favorite  number) 
and  give  each  a  #  name  - 


my  name  is  #2 

V 


V  was  created  next, 
so  I’m  #3 


and  me.  I’m  # 4 


Pick  one  of  the  NODES  on  the  second  level  -  (I  picked 
#4  --  if  you  didn’t,  then  try  again)  —  and  do  the  same  thing  — 


%  \ 

%  % 

%  % 


So  here’s  the  final  picture: 

I’m  #1 

/v 

My  name  is  # 

Hi!  I’m  #3. 

I’m  called  #5 

Call  me  8 
for  short 


Call  me  #  4 

My  friends  call  me  #7 


/  m  the  oldest  one  (  j>m  t^e  middle  one 
on  my  level  -  call  me  #  1 2 
-  my  name  is  #  n 


number  is  #6 
You  can  call  me  #  10 

And  I’m  the  youngest  of  all! 

I’m  #13 


So  there  you  are.  A  little  family  of  connected  circles 
(folks  in  computer  science  call  them  NODES  ),  each  with  its 
own  name. 


V 


A  good  idea  for  names  is  to  give  each  NODE  a  different 
like 
I  gave  out. 


one.  I  like  to  choose  each  new  name  by  adding  1  to  the  last  name 


\\ 

- 


Here  are  the  ideas  that  made  this  sctructure  - 

1.  Start  with  the  top  NODE.  Call  her  #1 

2.  Do  this  4  times  - 

2A.  Do  this  3  times  -- 

2A1.  Add  1  to  the  last  name 
2A2.  Make  a  new  tunnel  and  a  new  NODE 
using  the  new  name 
2B.  Pick  one  at  random 
2C.  Move  down  to  it 

3.  Pick  the  NODE  you’re  in  and  call  it  the  “out”  NODE. 


So  that  is  what  we’d  like  to  happen.  In  the  CAVES 
family,  tunnels  and  NODES  are  created  and  kept  track  of  by 
a  special  set  of  subroutines  called  TREE  SUBROUTINES. 
The  word  TREE  is  used  in  computer  talk  to  mean  all  the 
different  kinds  of  structures  made  of  tunnels  and  NODES. 


NEXT  ISSUE  we’ll  talk  about  the  TREE 
SUBROUTINES  and  how  you  can  use  them  in  your 
own  games.Maybe  we’ll  even  have  time  to  talk  about 
how  they  do  their  jobs!!! 


20 


Background 


Project  LOCAL 

Services 


Project  LOCAL  has  been  around  since  1967.  It  is  one  of  the  more  successful  sec¬ 
ondary  school  consortiums  or  cooperatives.  LOCAL  received  some  national  ac¬ 
claim  a  few  years  ago  when  someone  at  Westwood  High  School  did  a  controlled 
test  of  second  year  algebra  students  and  demonstrated  that  students  who  learned 
algebra  using  flowcharting  techniques  and  computers,  increased  their  scores  on. 
an  abstract  reasoning  test  by  17.2%  and  S.A.T.  scores  by  7.5%.  This  was  first 
reported  in  PTA  Magazine  and  subsequently  reported  in  Reader's  Digest.  Since 
that  early  notoriety,  LOCAL  has  grown  and  grown  and  grown.  Thanks  to  Bob 
Haven  and  Pam  Ellsworth,  who  submitted  the  material  from  which  we  have 
prepared  what  follows. 

What 

Project  LOCAL  is  a  non-profit  corporation  set  up  to  facilitate  cooperation  in  per¬ 
forming  the  functions  necessary  to  support  computer-oriented  education.  Its 
membership  includes  the  Towns  of  Lexington,  Natick,  Needham,  Wellesley  and 
Westwood  (Massachusetts),  some  services  are  provided  also  to  non-member  towns 
and  to  individuals. 

Who 

Policy  is  set  by  a  Board  of  Directors  consisting  of  the  superintendents  of  the  five 
member  systems.  The  staff  consists  of  Bob  Haven,  Director,  Pam  Ellsworth, 
Curriculum  Specialist,  and  Kay  Olson,  Executive  Secretary.  Teachers  are  employed 
as  necessary  to  write  resource  materials  and  textbooks  and  to  conduct  in-service 
training  and  evaluation  work.  The  staff  works  closely  with  a  School  Coordinator 
in  each  of  the  five  member  systems. 


"The  hardware  set-up  differs  from  school  to  school.  Six  of  our  schools  have  DEC 
Family-of-8  computers  with  the  number  of  users  varying  from  6  to  20.  The  sys¬ 
tems  are  disk-oriented  and  operate  mainly  in  the  BASIC  language,  although  two 
of  them  have  multi-language  capabilities.  At  this  time,  the  33  ASR  Teletype  is 
the  main  input/output  device  used.  The  Lexington  system  does  have  a  line  printer, 
DECtapes,  and  a  card  reader  which  they  use  for  both  instructional  and  admin¬ 
istrative  purposes/' 


Looking  Ahead 

Looking  ahead  somewhat.  Project  LOCAL  hopes  to  establish  its  own  regional 
educational  computer  center  sometime  in  1974.  The  plans  being  considered  call 
for  two  large  mini-computers  (if  there  is  such  a  thing  .  .  .?)  capable  of  serving  over 
50  stations.  One  machine  would  be  equipped  with:  (1)  one  of  the  fullest  imple¬ 
mentations  of  BASIC  available;  and  (2)  for  elementary  schools,  the  LOGO  language 
and  program  control  of  devices  such  as  "turtles",  music  boxes,  and  plotters. 


In-service  Training  for  teachers  and  administrators  affords  the  best  means  for  showing 
the  educational  potential  of  the  computer  and  the  ways  to  realize  this  potential. 

18  different  courses  in  several  different  disciplines  cover  topics  not  covered  by  local 
university  curricula. 

Faculty  consists  of  persons  with  many  years  of  training  and  experience  in  computer- 
oriented  education. 

Tuitions  are  well  below  those  charged  bv  local  colleqes. 

Courses  are  held  in  locations  more  convenient  than  most  college  campuses. 

Document  and  Computer  Program  Library  provides  back-up  support  for  teachers 
preparing  courses  and  for  administrators  charting  new  directions.. 

One  of  the  most  extensive  collections  in  the  U.S.A.  of  textbooks,  reference  books 
teaching  units,  technical  reports,  periodicals  and  computer  programs  related  to 
computer-oriented  education;  especially  notable  for  materials  directly  applicable 
to  real  classroom  situations. 

Effective  retrieval  of  the  right  materials  made  possible  by  subject  indices  for  individual 
staff  members,  monthly  "briefs"  summarizing  the  best  computer  teaching  applications 
in  several  disciplines  and  a  card  catalog  organized  alphabetically  by  concept  to  be 
taught. 

Convenient  access  realized  by  "phone-up"  orders  for  documents  and  direct  delivery  to 
schools. 

Costs  Per  Pupil  are  reduced  to  levels  usually  realized  only  with  very  large  student 
bodies  (costs  to  members  for  individual  services  are  20  to  55  per  cent  less  than 
from  other  Boston-area  sources). 

Non-profit  status  makes  all  resources  available  to  school  systems  at  cost. 

Low  overhead  promotes  maximum  efficiency. 

Bulk  purchasing  confers  the  economies  of  quantity  discounts. 

Primary  resources  (hardware,  personnel,  libraries)  serve  a  large  student  population, 
thereby  greatly  reducing  the  unit  cost  of  these  expensive  items. 

Full-time  Staff  Consultants  give  the  needed  helping  hand  that  makes  the  difference 
between  a  mediocre  educational  computer  program  and  one  which  really  fulfills 
objectives.  It  should  be  emphasized  that  this  type  of  service  is  free  to  consortium 
members. 

For  the  neophyte  computer  user,  someone  who  is  always  on  hand  to  answer  questions 
and  help  with  those  sure-to-arise  difficulties,  brought  on  by  inexperience,  which  usually 
turn  out  to  be  minor  but  which  loom  so  large  to  one  who  is  just  getting  started. 

For  the  experienced  computer  user,  someone  who  can  give  stimulating  suggestions 
for  new  approaches,  additional  expertise  in  areas  where  there  are  "blind  spots",  and 
assistance  in  analyzing  hardware  and  software  difficulties. 

For  the  department  head  and  administrator,  someone  to  help  in  analyzing  needs,  de¬ 
signing  computer  applications  to  fulfill  needs,  determining  resource  requirements, 
selecting  and  acquiring  hardware,  and  implementing  the  applications  designed. 

LOCAL  personnel  have  many  years  of  experience  in  all  phases  of  computer  use  in 
both  education  and  business. 

Responsiveness,  Quality  and  Reliability  of  Services  assured  by  five  years  of  success¬ 
ful  experience  at  providing  services  to  schools  engaged  in  computer-oriented  educa¬ 
tion;  that  experience  includes  the  following  notable  accomplishments: 

The  number  of  users  of  computer  facilities  in  LOCAL  schools  has  increased  from  eight 
teachers  and  250  students  in  1967  to  over  100  teachers  and  5,000  students  in  1972. 
Member  schools  have  added  to  the  scope  of  their  computer  use  new  applications  such 
as  drill  and  practice,  simulated  laboratories,  laboratory  support,  and  clerical  support 
for  individualized  instruction.  Moreover,  new  subject  areas  have  been  added,  including 
chemistry,  physics,  social  studies,  biology,  and  language  arts.  Four  elementary  schools 
have  begun  to  use  the  computer  in  teaching. 

Five  different  evaluation  studies  of  the  effects  of  computer-oriented  instruction  in 
student  achievement,  attitude,  and  problem-solving  skills  have  been  conducted  in 
LOCAL  schools.  Four  of  these  studies  found  improvements  attributable  to  computer  . 
techniques. 

The  LOCAL  staff  planned  and  coordinated  the  installation  of  five  time-sharing  systems; 
the  staff  has  assisted  in  operating  and  expanding  these  installations  and  has  administered 
time-sharing  services  to  eleven  schools  outside  the  LOCAL  membership. 

The  LOCAL  staff  conducted  studies  to  determine  the  feasibility  of: 

using  individual  towns'  computers  as  the  basis  for  administrative  data  processing; 
using  one  town's  computer  as  the  basis  for  a  regional  data  processing  center;  and 
using  members'  computers  to  fully  automate  a  clerical  support  system  for 
individualized  instruction. 

Reports  of  these  studies  are  available  from  the  project  office. 

The  LOCAL  staff  designed  and  implemented  the  following  computerized  systems; 

an  attendance  accounting  system; 

an  information  retrieval  system  useful  in  administration ,  educational  research , 
and  hypothesis-testing  in  science;  and 

an  automated  test  scoring  and  reporting  system  to  support  individualized 
instruction. 

LOCAL  has  trained  over  350  teachers  in  the  Boston  area  in  computer-oriented  teaching 
in  math,  science,  and  social  studies. 

The  LOCAL  staff  has  helped  to  originate  and  stimulate  the  growth  of  area  organizations 
for  educators  interested  in  computers,  especially  BIT  (BASIC  Information  for  Teachers) 
and  MEDPA  (Massachusetts  Educational  Data  Processing  Association). 

LOCAL  has  published  eight  different  books,  one  of  which  is  a  programmed  text  for 
teaching  computer  programming  used  by  schools,  hospitals  and  companies  all  around 
tbe  U.S. 

LOCAL  has  received  international  recognition  as  one  of  the  most  significant  projects 
working  in  the  field  of  pre-college  computer-oriented  instruction. 

1 - “ - - \ 

WANTED:  More  information  on  networks,  schools,  groups, 

whoever,  getting  together  to  share  a  computer  resource  — 


Other  Networks  you  can  read  about  — 

TIES  in  Minnesota,  PCC,  Vol.  1,  No.  3 
RESOURCE  1  in  San  Francisco,  PCC,  Vol.  1,  No.  3 
LACE  in  Wisconsin,  PCC,  Vol.  2,  No.  1 
LAWRENCE  HALL  OF  SCIENCE,  PCC,  Vol.  1,  No.  1 


Networks  to  Contact  for  More  Information  - 


Carnesie  Mellon  University 
Dr.  Alan  Perl  is. 

fJepartment  of  Computer  Science 
Schenley  Park 
Pittsburgh ,  PA.  15213 

Purdue  University 
Dr.  Saul  Rosen 

Computer  Science  Department 
Lafayette ,  Ind.  47907 

Illinois  Institute  of  Technology 
Dr.  Peter  Lykos 
Information  Service  Center 
Chicago ,  III.  60616 

California  Institute  of  Technology 
Dr.  G.D.  McCann 
Booth  Computing  Center 
Pasadena,  Ca.  91109 


University  of  Iowa 
Dr.  Gerard  Weeg 
University  Computer  Center 
Iowa  City,  Iowa  52242 

Sou  thern  Regional  Ed.  Board 
Dr.  John  Hamblen 
130  Sixth  St.  N.  W. 

Atlanta ,  Georgia  30313 

Dartmouth  College 
Dr.  Thomas  Kurtz 
Kieivit  Computation  Center 
Hanover,  N.H.  03755 

Un  ivers  i  ty  of  T exas 
Dr.  Charles  Warlick 
Computation  Center 
Austin,  Tx.  78712 


New  Jersey  Educational  Computer  Ctr. 
Dr.  William  Carroll 
5  Huntington  St. 

New  Brunswick,  NJ  08903 


Colorado  State  University 
Dr.  Lee  Maroell 
Department  of  EE 
Fort  Collins,  Co.  80521 


Lexington  HS 

Lexington  High  School  is  planning  a  quite  ambitious  computer-oriented  curriculum 
for  next  year  in  math  alone,  not  to  mention  what's  going  on  in  other  departments. 
The  following  description,  provided  by  Walter  Koetke  of  Lexington  High  School, 
could  serve  as  a  model  for  programs  being  developed  elsewnere. 

Students  may  plan  to  enroll  in  any  one  of  the  following  seven  computer  related 
mathematics  courses  by  reserving  specific  blocks  in  their  schedule  for  work  in 
the  computer/mathematics  laboratory.  The  pace  and  even  the  content  of  each 
course  will  be  individually  made  for  each  student.  Most  courses  consist  of  a 
series  of  specific  topic  sheets  through  which  students  can  complete  small  units 
at  their  own  pace. 

COURSE  DESCRIPTION 

COMPUTER  APPR  EC  I  A  T/ON  -  Open  to  all  students  who  have  NEVER  COMPLETED  an 
Algebra  course.  Topic  emphasis  will  be  on  demonstrations  of  what  computers  can  and  can  not 
do.  Students  will  receive  a  great  deal  of  "hands-on"  computer  use  with  demonstration  programs, 
but  little  or  no  programming  will  be  required.  2  periods/week. 

INTRODUCTION  TO  PROGRAMMING  —  Designed  for  students  with  no  programming  experi¬ 
ence  who  have  not  completed  second  year -algebra.  Topic  emphasis  is  on  learning  to  write,  enter, 
and  run  programs  in  BASIC.  2-4  periods/week. 

COMPUTER  RELATED  MATHEMATICS  —  Designed  for  students  with  or  without  programming 
experience  who  have  already  completed  second  year  algebra.  A  wide  variety  of  pre-calculus 
mathematical  topics  that  usually  are  not  covered  in  other  courses  will  be  examined.  2—4  periods 
each  week. 

COMPUTER  RELATED  NON-MATHEMATICS  -  Open  to  students  with  BASIC  programming1 
experience  who  have  completed  or  are  simultaneously  enrolled  in  second  year  algebra.  Topic 
emphasis  is  on  the  programming  of  non-mathematical  computer  applications  using  more  ad¬ 
vanced  techniques  of  BASIC  programming.  Sample  units  include:  sorting  routines,  file-mani¬ 
pulation,  simulations,  games,  etc.  2—4  periods/week. 

ADVANCED  COMPUTER  RELATED  MATHEMATICS  -  Open  to  students  familiar  with 
BASIC  programming  who  have  completed  or  are  simultaneously  enrolled  in  Pre-Calculus  Math. 
Topic  emphasis  is  on  numerical  methods  of  applied  mathematics.  Sample  units  include: 
computing  zeroes  of  high  order  functions,  numerical  differentiation  and  integration,  inter¬ 
polation  and  extrapolation  techniques,  solving  systems  of  equations  etc.  2—4  periods/week. 
COMPUTER  SCIENCE  —  Open  to  students  who  have  completed  any  one  of  the  three  pre¬ 
ceding  courses.  Topic  emphasis  is  on  learning  assembly  language  programming  for  the  PDP  81 
then  using  this  language  to  implement  algorithms  that  would  be  inconvenient  or  impossible 
using  BASIC,  FOCAL  or  other  interactive  languages.  2—4  periods/week. 

PROJECTS  -  Open  to  students  who  have  successfully  completed  any  one  of  the  four  preceding 
courses.  Students  will  work  on  individual,  large  projects  that  they  originate  or  that  are  suggested 
by  the  instructor.  Cooperative  projects  with  other  departments  are  encouraged.  Advanced 
programming  techniques  and  mathematical  skills  are  required ,  as  well  as  the  ability  to  conduct 
and  then  write  a  report  of  a  research  project.  Sample  programming  projects  might  be:  a  program 
to  play  checkers,  aprogram  that  permits  multiple-terminal  interaction  in  a  stock  market  or  other 
type  of  decision  making  simulation,  a  CA  I  program  to  drill  students  in  Spanish  verb  forms,  etc. 
2—6  period /week. 


In  Service  Courses 

THE  POTENTIAL  OF  THE  COMPUTER  IN  THE  INSTRUCTIONAL  PROCESS 
4V2  hours,  $25.00 

\ 

INTRODUCTION  TO  PROGRAMMING  IN  THE  BASIC  LANGUAGE 
16  hours,  $80.00 

TEACHING  ADVANCED  PROGRAMMING  TOPICS 
20  hours,  $1 00. 00 

HOW  TO  JUSTIFY  COMPUTER  EQUIPMENT  FOR  INSTRUCTIONAL  AND 
ADMINISTRATIVE  USE 

6  hours,  $30.00 

SELECTING  AND  ACQUIRING  COMPUTER  AND  COMMUNICATION 
FA CILITIES  FOR  INSTR UCTION 

10  hours,  $50.00 

WRITING  COMPUTER-ADMINISTERED  DRILL  AND  PRACTICE  DIALOGS 
IN  BASIC 

10  hours,  $50.00 

COMPUTER  SUPPORT  FOR  COMPREHENSIVE  ACHIEVEMENT  MONITORING 
(CAM) 

6  hours,  $30. 00 

DESIGNING  AND  IMPLEMENTING  COMPUTER-BASED  SIMULATIONS  FOR 
USE  IN  SOCIAL  AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCES 

-f  ■ 

10  hours,  $50.00 

FUNDAMENTALS  OF  COMPUTERS  AND  ASSEMBL  Y  LANGUAGE 
20  hours,  $100.00 

INTRODUCTION  TO  USING  THE  COMPUTER  IN  TEACHING  SECONDARY 
SCHOOL  MATHEMATICS 

20  hours,  $  100. 00 

INTRODUCTION  TO  USING  THE  COMPUTER  IN  TEACHING  SECONDARY 
SCIENCE 

20  hours,  $100.00 

USING  SIMULA  TION  IN  TEACHING  SECONDARY  SCIENCE 
10  hours,  $50.00 

INTRODUCTION  TO  USING  THE  COMPUTER  IN  TEACHING  SECONDARY 
SCHOOL  SOCIAL  STUDIES 

20  hours,  $100. 00 

INTRODUCTION  TO  USING  THE  COMPUTER  IN  BUSINESS  AND  DATA 
PROCESSING  COURSES  ‘  _ 

20  hours,  $100.00 

INTRODUCTION  TO  COMPUTER-ORIENTED  INSTRUCTION  IN  THE 
ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL 

20  hours,  $100.00 


In  the  fall  of  1 967,  three  groups  of  average  college-bound  juniors  in  the  Westwood 
Massachusetts  Senior  High  School  began  to  take  second-year  algebra,  a  fact  which 
in  itself  is  not  unusual.  What  was  unusual  about  these  groups  was  that,  although 
all  three  were  taught  the  same  mathematics  material  by  the  same  teacher,  students 
in  two  groups  received  instruction  in  flowcharting  and  used  this  technique  of  designing 
and  representing  problem  solutions  graphically,  in  doing  their  homework.  Students 
in  one  of  these  two  groups  also  learned  computer  programming  and  did  homework 
problems  on  the  computer.  The  third  group,  which  served  as  a  control  group,  was 
taught  in  the  traditional  fashion,  using  lecture,  classroom  discussion  and  ordinary 
pencil  and  paper  homework  assignments. 


Over  the  school  year,  the  group  which  worked  with  the  computer  improved  more 
than  either  of  the  other  groups  in  general  scholastic  and  reasoning  abilities,  as 
measured  by  standardized  tests.  As  can  be  seen  in  the  following  figure,  the  com¬ 
puter  group  improved  more  than  twice  as  much  as  the  control  group  on  a  test 
of  general  scholastic  ability  and  almost  four  times  as  much  on  a  reasoning  test. 


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WELCOME  TO  •  •  • 


THE  PCG  BOOKSTORE 

The  PCC  storefront  has  started  carrying  books  as  well  as  computer  tapes  which  we  have  used  and  endorse.  From  now  on,  we  will  be 
running  a  regular  page  to  tell  our  readers  about  these  materials.  Prices  quoted  here  include  postage  and  shipping,  unless  annotated. 

MAKE  CHECKS  OR  MONEY  ORDERS  TO  US: 

PEOPLE’S  COMPUTER  COMPANY 

P.O.  BOX  310 

MENLO  PARK,  CA  94025 


Books 


COW® 


11 


■wltfrs  •.  in  E5ASIC 


My  Computer  Likes  Me  -  by  Dymax 

Price  --  $1.19  each 
Quantities  of  100  --  1.00 

Warning:  Price  goes  up  to  $1.49  as  of  1/1/74. 
Order  now  and  save! 


BASIC,  Albrecht,  Finkel,  Brown  --  a  Wiley  Self-Teaching  Guide 

/  Price  --  $3.95 
Plus  Shipping/*  Handling  --  .40 

Total  --  $4.35 


t4&-j  / 


Problems  for  Computer  Solution,  Gruenberger  &  Jaffrey  --  by  Wiley 

Price  -  $6.95 

S  &  H~  _ ,50 

Total  -  $7.45 

(See  review  in  PCC 
Vol.  1,  No.  3) 

BASIC  Programming,  2nd  Ed.,  Kemeny  &  Kurtz  --  by  Wiley 

Price  --  $6.25 

S  &  H~  _ A0 

Total  --  $6.65 

(See  review  in  PCC 
Vol.  1,  No.  1) 


Tapes 


These  are  our  very  own  computer  games.  They  are  written  in  a  standard  form  of  BASIC  and  will  run  on  any  system  that  uses 
Dartmouth  BASIC.  When  strings  are  used  they  are  standard  Hewlett-Packard  strings  and  you  may  have  to  modify  the  programs 
for  your  system.  If  you  are  a  PCC  subscriber,  you  can  get  free  listings  of  all  our  games  -  send  a  stamped,  self-addressed  envelope 
for  each  listing.  For  the  tapes  themselves,  these  prices  apply  - 


HURKLE 

Apr  73 

Page  22 

$  2 

MUGWUMP 

99 

3 

2 

SNARK 

future  issue 

2 

STARS 

Dec  72 

3 

2 

NUMBER 

Oct  72 

8 

2 

LETTER 

99 

11 

2 

TRAP 

Feb  73 

8 

2 

BEYOND  BAGELS 

future  issue 

2 

TAXMAN 

Sep  73 

6-7 

3 

REVERSE 

May  73 

4 

2 

BUTTON,  BUTTON,  WHO’S  GOT 
THE  BUTTON? 

future  issue 

2 

22 


CAVES  1  You  need  a  copy  of 

May  73 

page  5 

'  $’3 

CAVES2  TREE  SUBROUTINES 

Sep  73 

12 

3 

CAVES3  to  make  these  work 

99 

13 

3 

^  PUBLIC  CAVES  KIT 

this  issue 

18 

8 

TREE  SUBROUTINES 

this  issue 

19 

4 

^  HUNT  THE  WUMPUS 

this  issue 

23 

4 

SUPER  WUMPUS 

future  issue 

- 

4 

^  SUNSIGN 

this  issue 

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Feb  73 

9 

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INSTRUCTIONS  <Y-N)?Y 

VELCOME  TO  ’HUNT  THE  VUMPUS • 

THE  VUMPUS  LIVES  IN  A  CAVE  OF  20  ROOMS. 

EACH  ROOM  HAS  3  TUNNELS  LEADING  TO  OTHER  ROOMS. 

HAZARDS: 


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BOTTOMLESS  PITS  -  TWO  ROOMS  HAVE  BOTTOMLESS  PITS  IN  THEM. 

•IP  YOU  GO  THERE..  YOU  FALL  INTO  THE  PIT  AND  LOSE  I 
SUPER  BATS  -  TWO  OTHER  ROOMS  HAVE  SUPER  BATS. 

IF  YOU  GO  THERE.  A  BAT  WILL  GRAB  YOU  AND  TAKE  YOU  TO* 
SOMEWHERE  ELSE  IN  THE  CAVE  WHERE  YOU  COULD 
FALL  INTO  A  PIT  OR  RUN  INTO  THE  .  .  . 

WUMPUS :  y 

THE  WUMPUS  IS  NOT  BOTHERED  BY  THE  HAZARDS  SINCE 
HE  HAS  SUCKER  FEET  AND  IS  TOO  BIG  FOR  A  BAT  TO  LIFT. 

USUALLY  HE  IS  ASLEEP. 

TWO  THINGS  WAKE  KIM  UP: 

YOUR  ENTERING  HIS  ROOM 

YOUR  SHOOTING  AN  ARROW  ANYWHERE  IN  THE  CAVE 
IF  THE  WUMPUS  WAKES.  HE  EITHER  DECIDES  TO  MOVE  ONE  ROOM  OR 
STAY  WHERE  HE  WAS.  BUT  IF  HE  ENDS  UP  WHERE  YOU  ARE. 

HE  EATS  YOU  UP  AND  YOU  LOSE! 

YOU: 

EACH  TURN  YOU  MAY  EITHER  MOVE  OR  SHOOT  A  CROOKED  ARROW. 

MOVING  -  YOU  CAN  MOVE  TO  ONE  OF  THE  THREE  ADJOINING  ROOMS; 
THAT  IS.  TO  ONE  THAT  HAS  A  TUNNEL  CONNECTING  IT  WITH 
THE  ROOM  YOU  ARE  IN. 

YOU  MIGHT  WANT  TO  USE  SOME  SCRAP  PAPER  TO  MAKE  A 
MAP  OF  THE  CAVES  AS  YOU  GO.  SHOWING  WHERE  YOU'VE 
BEEN  AND  WHERE  YOU  THINK  THE  WUMPUS  AND  THE 
HAZARDS  MIGHT  BE. 

SHOOTING  -  YOU  HAVE  5  ARROWS.  YOU  LOSE  WHEN  YOU  RUN  OUT. 
EACH  ARROW  CAN  GO  FROM  1  TO  S  ROOMS. 

YOU  AIM  BY  TELLING  THE  COMPUTER 

FIRST.  THE  NUMBER  OF  ROOMS  YOU  WANT  THE  ARROW 
TO  TRAVEL. 

SECOND.  THE  PATH  YOU  WANT  THE  ARROW  TO  TAKE  FROM 
ROOM  TO  ROOM. 

THE  ARROW'S  PATH  IS  A  LIST  OF  ROOM  NUMBERS 
TELLING  THE  ARROW  WHICH  ROOM  TO  GO  TO  NEXT. 
THE  FIRST  ROOM  IN  THE  PATH  MUST  BE  CONNECTED  TO  THE 
ROOM  YOU  ARE  IN.  EACH  SUCCEEDING  ROOM  MUST  BE 
CONNECTED  TO  THE  PREVIOUS  ROOM. 

IF  THERE  IS  NO  TUNNEL  BETWEEN  TWO  OF  THE  ROOMS 
IN  THE  ARROW'S  PATH.  THE  ARROW  CHOOSES  ONE  OF  THE 
THREE  TUNNELS  FROM  THE  ROOM  IT'S  IN  AND  GOES  ITS 
OWN  WAY. 

IF  THE  ARROW  HITS  THE  WUMPUS.  YOU  WIN! 

IF  THE  ARROW  HITS  YOU.  YOU  LOSE! 

WARNINGS: 

WHEN  YOU  ARE  ONE  ROOM  AWAY  FROM  THE  WUMPUS  OR  A  HAZARD. 

THE  COMPUTER  SAYS: 

VUMPUS  -  'I  SMELL  A  WUMPUS ' 

BAT  -  'BATS  NEARBY' 

PIT  -  'I  FEEL  A  DRAFT' 


( He  could,// 

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